Large School Streets programme with camera enforcement - Hackney Council
Published 19 November 2024
Applies to England
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Background
Hackney runs the UK’s largest School Streets programme, with 83% of primary and 26% of secondary schools and over 20,000 pupils currently benefiting. It has committed to assessing all its primary and secondary schools for a School Street.
As a London borough, Hackney has been able to use camera enforcement of its School Streets for several years. A mixture of permanent and temporary cameras is now used, so that enforcement can be targeted where it is needed, without the cost of installing permanent cameras at every school.
What they did
The council has developed its approach over time, using evidence and learning from Hackney’s first 4 pilot School Streets at St John the Baptist Primary School, Gayhurst Community School, Millfields Community School and Oldhill Community School, to inform the successful roll out of the programme across the borough.
School Streets are introduced using experimental traffic orders for up to 18 months. Following consultation, the decision is then made on whether to make the schemes permanent, with or without changes. The schemes are generally well supported by the local community, with a 2022 poll of Hackney residents finding that more than 7 in 10 wanted to see at least some of Hackney’s School Streets made permanent.
Results / what happens next
Between 2020 and 2021, following the successful rollout of over 30 more School Streets in Hackney, the borough average for walking and cycling to school had increased from 61% to 69%. The number of children walking to school increased by 30% and the number of children cycling to school increased by 51%. On average, the schools in Hackney with a School Street scheme have seen a 68% reduction in traffic outside school gates, resulting in a significant drop in vehicle emissions.
Hackney Council has used its experience of delivering School Streets to create a toolkit and templates for promotional materials that are available to local authorities free of charge on their website.