Cycle-friendly schools and colleges (CTC views)

Children cycling to school

Headline Messages:

Cycling to school or college helps pupils develop their physical health and fitness; their confidence, independence and sense of self worth; and their navigational and roadcraft skills. It also helps tackle local congestion, pollution and road danger created by the school run.
Travel for education contributes significantly to peak time traffic at about 29% of trips between 8 and 9 am in Great Britain , with an additional 18% escorting others to education. Only around 1% of trips for education purposes is cycled.
Involving pupils, parents, teachers and school governors in constructive joint action to make the trips they generate more sustainable can unite a school community and provide a learning experience in social and environmental responsibility and project management.
Cycling is a skill for life. Encouraging as many children as possible to see it as viable transport helps ward off car dependency later in life, and contributes to reducing future traffic volume.

CTC View (formal statement of CTC's policy):

Involving the whole school community (pupils, teachers, governors and parents), schools and colleges should:
- Actively recognise the health, social, environmental and educational benefits of encouraging students and staff to cycle.
- Develop, act on and monitor School Travel Plans that have cycling at their core; and publish pro-cycling policies.
- Arrange for Bikeability training and other activities to promote safe, fun and responsible cycling.
- Provide high quality facilities for pupils who cycle (e.g. parking, lockers for equipment etc).
- Remove all barriers to cycling (e.g. bans on parking cycles on the premises).
- Not impose restrictions on those who do cycle (e.g. a requirement to wear cycle helmets).
- Work with the local highways authority to improve road safety in the area.
Local authorities should:
- Work positively with schools/colleges about cycling and offer resources to help them develop their Travel Plans.
- Jointly identify hostile conditions on local roads and treat them to help make cycling to and from school/college as hazard-free, attractive and convenient as possible (e.g. by introducing 20mph speed limits, providing safe cycling links etc).
- School inspections and self-evaluations should assess the measures that school/colleges take to encourage active travel and reduce the impact they have on traffic volumes and road danger.

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Publication Date:

July 2012

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