Doorway 3: Travel & Traffic

Nationally, transport now accounts for 26% of emissions in the UK and is the fastest growing source of climate change gases.

At a school level, transport accounts for 20% of the average school’s carbon footprint and is one of the Government’s key indicators of sustainable development.

In a car-dependant culture, it is easy for parents to become reliant on their own private vehicles for the journey to and from school, and 16% of urban traffic between 8am and 9am is currently made up of parents on the school run.

The DCSF wants schools to become models of sustainable travel where vehicles are used only where absolutely necessary, thereby conserving energy, reducing air pollution, contributing to local well-being and achieving the ‘being healthy’ and ‘staying safe’ objectives of the Every Child Matters agenda.

The DCSF and DFT are encouraging individual schools to start addressing these issues by drawing up their own School Travel Plans and have set a target for all schools to develop a School Travel Plan (STP) by March 2010. A School Travel Plan is a written document that identifies and solves problems associated with the school journey, and puts forward a unique package of measures to reduce car use and improve safety.

Over 50% of schools in England now have an approved Travel to School Action Plan in place whilst many more are holding consultations with teachers, parents, pupils and other local people to develop a school transport policy that is transparent to all concerned.

This section looks at both local and global travel and outlines ways in which each can be done responsibly and sustainably. In these pages the sustainable transport charity Sustrans offers practical ways to tackle the school run, whilst adventure travel company Explore reveals some sustainable options for international travel.

In This Section

Sustrans - Tackling the School Run
Sustrans, the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity, looks at the importance of promoting cycling and walking in schools and discusses the success of its ‘Bike It’ project.

Explore - Responsible Travel and Tourism
Adventure travel company Explore explains that global travel can be both sustainable and responsible and outlines the details of its School Adventure Programme.