Wiltshire Council is planning to introduce a School Streets pilot at three locations across the county, following a public consultation and engagement with residents, schools, businesses and the wider community
The council originally consulted on five potential pilot locations, put forward by the schools themselves. Based on the consultation feedback, the council intends to progress School Streets at Aloeric Primary School in Melksham, Fynamore Primary School in Calne, and Minster Primary School in Warminster, where there was clear overall support and recognition of the potential benefits for safety and traffic reduction.
Following the consultation, one proposed location will be given further time to ensure that an agreement is in place for an alternative park-and-stride location, and a second will not be taken forward at this stage
At Queen’s Crescent Primary School in Chippenham, residents raised concerns about displaced traffic and parking outside the proposed area. The management of a car park that is used as a park and stride location is also no longer supportive of this arrangement being widely advertised as part of the proposals. The school working with with the provider of an alternative location and should this work well after a trial period, the School Streets proposals can be taken forward
At Staverton Primary School and Emmaus School, concerns were raised about access for carers and deliveries, and a revised local proposal was considered to not meet the core aim of significantly reducing traffic on surrounding roads. Instead, the council will explore other highway and safety improvements, with the option to revisit the site in future.
The School Streets at Melksham, Calne and Warminster would be introduced under Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs), allowing the council to trial the measures, gather further feedback and decide whether they should be made permanent.
The restrictions would only apply for short periods at the start and end of the school day during term time and would be enforced using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, with exemptions for emergency services, for people living within the restrictions and people with defined needs.
(Picture: Wiltshire Council)
