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Aphra Brandreth (Chester South and Eddisbury) (Con)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered road safety around schools.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine, and to have secured this debate on such an important topic. On 12 November last year, a young boy left school at the end of the day, stepped into the road directly outside his school and never returned home. That terrible accident took place at a school in my constituency. Investigations remain ongoing and, therefore, I will not go into specific details of what happened, but at the heart of this is an 11-year-old boy, a student at the nearby school and a much-loved son. He was crossing Wrexham Road, a busy arterial road into Chester, where the speed limit is 40 mph. Tragically, he did not make it home that night; I cannot imagine what his parents have gone through. It is every family’s worst nightmare. I am incredibly grateful to his parents for meeting me, and for their work in their son’s memory to do all they can to ensure that no other family has to face such a tragedy.
That accident has shaken the community to its core. The family, friends, school and wider community, many of whom have voiced concerns about speeding and road safety before, are determined to make a change. But it is clear that this is not just about this tragic incident, for which the investigation remains ongoing, nor is just about that school and that road. It is about every child’s journey to and from school, and the value we place on their safety and security.
I have spoken to many constituents who want to see a meaningful change. I want to mention the Make Wrexham Road Safe campaign and the team from the 20’s Plenty for Us campaign, who have met me and been so helpful in raising support and interest. Like them, I want to see long-lasting, effective changes to make roads outside schools safer. I am also grateful to the hon. Member for Chester North and Neston (Samantha Dixon), my neighbouring MP, who also met me about this subject.
In Chester West and Chester, there are 19 schools located on 30 mph roads. There are four that have speed limits of 40 mph. Shockingly, one is located on a road with a 60 mph speed limit. As I understand it, current legislation allows a degree of subjectivity to speed limits and how local authorities seek to implement them. According to Department for Transport guidance, updated on 17 March 2024, a speed limit of 20 mph may be put in place for
“major streets where there are—or are likely to be—significant numbers of journeys on foot, and/or where pedal cycle movements are an important consideration, and this outweighs the disadvantage of longer journey times for motorised traffic”,
and
“residential streets in cities, towns and villages, particularly where the streets are being used by people on foot and on bicycles, there is community support and the characteristics of the street are suitable”.
Needless to say, for every school, there are significant journeys made on foot and on bicycle. Where this tragic incident occurred, on one side of the 40 mph road is a school for children aged seven to 18, and on the other side, a new residential estate that will have approximately 1,500 new homes, many of which have already been built. There are also proposals to build an additional new school to support the development. Further down the road is a nursery, all within half a mile of each other.
As our housing needs have grown, developments have sprung up everywhere, yet the surrounding roads often do not reflect their new residential setting. It is clear that there are a significant number of journeys on foot and on bicycle. The guidance asks that this
“outweighs the disadvantage of longer journey times for motorised traffic”.
In this instance, there are 15,000 people who have signed a petition and who clearly believe it does outweigh the disadvantage.
The school, the residents’ association for the neighbouring housing development and I have been inundated by correspondence from parents and residents asking me to do what I can to campaign for a speed limit reduction outside schools. Therefore, with regard to the balance of advantage and disadvantage, I do not think that anyone would mind slowing to 20 mph around a school if it means that children are safer.
Let me be clear: I am not calling for a Wales-style blanket 20 mph limit, but for Wrexham Road and the many roads outside schools across the country, a reduction to 20 mph seems perfectly rational and appropriate. I therefore suggest that a reasonable compromise could be that local authorities are directed to have a default 20 mph limit outside schools, and that any deviation from that—any increase to the limit—would need to be for a justifiable reason, subject to the context of each case. The onus would be on justifying greater speeds, not on justifying why 20 mph is appropriate. That would better protect against and mitigate needless tragedies, and manage speed outside schools for the good of our children.
As a mum of teenage children, I know the reality is that children do not always assess risk or concentrate as we might want. Primary school-age children, in particular, can make mistakes and miscalculations when crossing roads. Sadly, they are sometimes distracted by phones or friends, or they may simply be daydreaming. Of course, teaching them about road safety is also vital. We all remember being taught to stop, look and listen. I know that the local schools, including where the accident took place, and our fantastic local police have already been doing so much to teach and encourage children to stay safe on our roads.
However, we are talking about young children, who can be easily distracted and may make mistakes. Reducing speed can make a huge difference to the severity of an accident involving a vehicle. There is a 2.5% chance of a fatality if a pedestrian is hit by a car travelling at 20 mph. That increases drastically to a 90% chance of a fatality if the car is travelling at 40 mph. Given such a stark contrast in outcomes, surely a 20 mph limit outside schools is suitable and sensible.
Added to that mix is the fact that many schools are now located in areas that are far busier, with many more cars and lorries using the road system than it was originally designed for. Wrexham Road is a clear example of that. As mentioned earlier, a significant development has taken place, and there are more people and road users living in the area than before. That road would once have gone through gentle Cheshire fields and farmland, but is now in a major urban area. Wrexham Road leads to a business park, the main A road that joins Chester to Wrexham, and the M53, which runs to Merseyside. We have become more reliant on cars, and the transport system has therefore changed to meet the demands of drivers. Outside schools, however, the primary focus ought to be not on how swiftly how we can get past, but on the children, who are at greater risk.
I am fortunate to have many amazing schools in my constituency. Although not all of them border a large housing development or an arterial road, Chester South and Eddisbury has a very large rural community, which brings different challenges that we must mitigate to prevent accidents outside schools. Country lanes and roads are by nature more dangerous than roads in urban areas. Often, they are narrower, have blind bends and their condition is worse. Delamere Church of England primary school and Eaton primary school have a 20 mph road directly outside the entrance, but a busy 60 mph road adjacent that pupils have to walk along or across. Three schools in my constituency, Bickerton Holy Trinity Church of England primary school, Bridgemere Church of England primary school and Calveley primary academy, have 60 mph roads directly outside their grounds, with a 20 mph limit only when lights show. I do not consider that sufficient mitigation.
We rightly encourage children to travel to and from school by bike or on foot—it is good for them and for the environment—but many parents do so with trepidation, because they are concerned that the conditions outside school are too dangerous. I am a mum, so I share the concerns of so many parents across Chester South and Eddisbury, and indeed the country, that their children are at greater than necessary risk when walking to school. That ought not to be the case.
It is worth noting that in many cases, we in the United Kingdom are the exception when it comes to traffic management outside schools. In the US and many European countries, strict laws regarding speed, including school zones, mean that speed can be reduced significantly. We can learn and implement lessons that will help us to reduce incidents outside schools and reassure parents, teachers and pupils that it is safe for them to go to and from school.
In concluding, I reiterate a point to which I alluded earlier: when considering speed restrictions and mitigations around school, the overriding focus should be the safety of the children. Slowing down to 20 mph outside a school is such a small change to make to prevent the life-changing consequences that we in Chester South and Eddisbury sadly know all too well. We can and must do more to ensure that every child returns home after school. They are at the start of their lives, with so much potential, and their safety is paramount. We can do good by revising policy and rethinking speed limits for them and their families.
Several hon. Members rose—
Christine Jardine (in the Chair)
Order. I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate. I ask them to limit their speeches to around four minutes.
Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)
Thank you for your chairmanship today, Ms Jardine. I sincerely thank the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) for securing the debate, and for her passionate and powerful opening remarks. The hearts of everyone in this Chamber go out to her constituent’s family. That was an unbearable thing to have happened, and the hon. Lady is right that, sadly, it was not an isolated incident; unfortunately, across the country, incidents like that happen far too often.
I want to refer to an incident that happened at a school in my Harlow constituency, Pemberley academy, on 17 September 2023. A car, breaking the 30 mph speed limit, came around a corner far too quickly, came off the road and went straight into the perimeter fence of the school. Fortunately, that happened on a weekend; if it had happened on a weekday, there would have been severe casualties, because it took place where the parents and their children line up to get into school.
Despite a petition led by the teachers at the school and signed by all the parents and local residents—including one local councillor at the time—nothing has been done to remedy the situation. This is not a political criticism—I recognise that Essex county council wants to do more—but there is so much red tape that it takes too long for communities and community groups, such as those mentioned by the hon. Lady, to make the changes that they want in their communities. I hope that a benefit of the English devolution Bill will be that power is given back to local communities, so that they have a greater say on what changes they can make to tackle this issue.
I want to add something positive and pay tribute to the work done by Essex county fire and rescue. The hon. Lady mentioned the importance of education, although she is right that education alone is not everything. We recognise that, with all the will in the world, children—especially young children, when we talk about primary schools—are not always going to look both ways and use the techniques that we have mentioned.
I pay tribute to the work of Essex county fire and rescue. Its FireBreak scheme at Harlow fire station teaches young people how to be fire officers and looks at road safety as well. It has visited Harlow college and other educational institutions in Harlow to talk about road safety education. It is important that you can never be too young or too old for road safety education. Although we often talk about how important it is to teach young ones, the hon. Lady made the point that teenagers and older children can be distracted too.
I welcome this debate and the ongoing conversation with the Minister and shadow Minister, who will be bored of me talking about this topic, because I spoke on it yesterday as well. We need to look at how we can give power back to local communities who know best how to ensure that the areas around their schools are safe.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
Again, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I thank the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) for securing this debate. Every hon. Member’s contribution will be constructive, but I want to tell those present in Westminster Hall what we are doing in Northern Ireland, because we are doing the very things that the hon. Lady has asked for.
Road safety is a topical subject. I am a vocal supporter of the 20 mph speed limit near schools in Northern Ireland. I pushed for that in my constituency and have been successful in getting those schemes.
Schools have also been promoting the walk to school scheme. One of my local schools, Victoria primary school in Newtownards, has been taking part in a phenomenal scheme where children get points for their house team if they walk, cycle or scoot to school. For those who have to drive, there are points for those who park on the main road and walk a section. That is an exciting way of getting children to incorporate exercise into their daily life and into their mindset. The key question for parents is: are my children safe walking to school? They will not consider walking if cars are zooming by at 30, 40 or 50 mph, as the hon. Lady referred to.
It is enough that the benefits of a safe school environment mean that no child is needlessly injured, or worse, when heading to school, but there are other benefits that we need to consider. In Northern Ireland, we have managed to save half a million pounds in a year from families doing the school run on foot, scooter or bike instead of by car, with schools participating in the Sustrans Active School Travel programme.
At the end of 2023, the number of children travelling actively to participating schools increased from 30% to 42%, the number of pupils being driven to school fell from 60% to 47%, and the number of children completing physical activity for at least 60 minutes each day increased from 29% to 46%. This is not just a road safety issue; it is an educational issue as well.
I am pleased to see the Minister in her place; she always responds positively to our requests. The matter is devolved, but I am trying to put forward what we are doing in Northern Ireland as a suggestion for what needs to be done to back up the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury, who secured this debate. My colleague Michelle McIlveen MLA played a massive part in that scheme in her position on the Committee for Infrastructure and as a Minister. She and I represent the same constituency in different places: she in the Assembly and me here.
A vehicle travelling at 20 mph would stop in time to avoid a child running out three car lengths in front. The same vehicle travelling at 25 mph would hit the child at 18 mph. That is roughly the same impact as a child falling from an upstairs window to the ground—probably, in most cases, concrete. The greater the impact speed, the greater the chance of death. A pedestrian hit at 30 mph has a significant—one in five—chance of being killed. If the speed goes up to 35 mph, that chance is one in three. My point is that the lower the speed, the more the chance of surviving.
We need to ensure that safety is paramount. When we can encourage more people to consider not driving to school, it is better for the environment, better physically, and better for wee minds. Ultimately, the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury put forward a case to make it safer for children outside schools. I support her and wish her well in the campaign. I very much look forward to the Minister’s contribution, and that of the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith), as well.
Tristan Osborne (Chatham and Aylesford) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I thank the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) for securing this debate. It is such an important topic, and the data has cross-country significance. She gave a powerful testimony about her own constituent and the impact on their family. That situation is replicated for many of us across our constituencies.
It is deeply depressing that according to Department for Transport statistics, 14% of child fatalities on Great Britain’s roads occur during the morning school run between 7 and 9 o’clock, and 23% happen after school between 3 and 5 o’clock. Even insurance companies are now taking that account. With a 43% reduction in road collisions during the school holidays, we know that it is a significant factor impacting our constituents.
I am a former teacher. The schools I have visited in my constituency, including St Katherine’s school in Snodland, Aylesford school and Walderslade grammar school, have all expressed, through their youth voice, concerns about the dangers associated with getting to school. My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) mentioned safety, but there are broader concerns around the school run. I want to talk briefly about them, but also about some of the solutions that my council has looked at.
The hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury is absolutely correct. Speed is a concern around schools, and I wholly endorse the 20 mph speed limit. We have introduced that around many of our urban schools across Medway, and we have seen a significant reduction in accidents. However, it is not just about speeding. It is also about the conduct of parents when they are picking up and dropping off their children. In some cases, the conduct of those picking up their children is below the standard that would be expected in any other situation, which has led to other safety concerns about, for example, vehicles mounting the pavements and aggression shown towards staff in many schools, with parking assistants sent to resolve the issue. That is an increasing concern, as is the amount of pollution outside schools.
Medway council has looked at a couple of schemes related to the safer streets initiative that was introduced under the previous Government. The council won £300,000 to introduce a school streets initiative. That initiative has not yet been mentioned, but in short, it restricts access to school streets completely during pick-up and drop-off times by using automatic number plate recognition camera technology, which reduces the volume of traffic to only the residents and businesses using that street. It dramatically improves road safety, reduces pollution and encourages active transport, so it serves as a real boon to getting kids out of the car and into a more active transport mode.
Matt Rodda (Reading Central) (Lab)
I commend the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) for her work on this important issue, and I offer my condolences to the family of her constituent. My hon. Friend is making an excellent point, and there are examples of such schemes around the country. There are several in Reading, and we have certainly benefited from exactly that type of measure. However, I gently suggest that the wider area needs to be considered. There can sometimes be a build-up of traffic on the edge of the school streets zone. My experience of the Reading examples is that integrating such schemes with other measures, such as the 20 mph zone, can help to reduce the risk of accidents and pollution. Does my hon. Friend agree with that point?
Tristan Osborne
I absolutely agree. In fact, the next part of the school streets programme is about increasing awareness and education within schools to ensure that they are aware that the scheme is not just about moving traffic to somewhere else, but part of an active transport strategy.
Medway has introduced that initiative, which has worked very well among 12 primary schools. Kent county council has introduced a similar scheme to promote education. It encourages cycling awareness and the use of high-visibility key fobs and other items for cyclists to wear. Again, increasing education is critical.
This is an important issue for many schools. I have been working with schools in my constituency to promote their knowledge and awareness of the school streets initiative, so that they can apply to the council and ask for involvement. Will the Minister make some of those examples and case studies of school streets more widely known about to encourage our local councils to pursue that agenda so that we can see a significant reduction in accidents? Would the Minister also be keen to promote the ideas of many of our leading councils around the country about education and cycling provision, and some of the benefits of those programmes, to ensure that our children are not getting in the car every morning when they go to school?
Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)
It is an honour to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Jardine. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth), not just for securing this debate, but for speaking powerfully and sensitively on this delicate subject; I offer my condolences to the family who she represents.
If only the incident that the hon. Lady described was unique, but it is not—it is sadly multiplied many times across the country. According to the charity Brake, five children are seriously injured or killed on UK roads every day. In south-west England, 442 children were injured on roads near schools in just one year—an utterly unacceptable situation. I will use my limited time today to talk about prevention and one town that I represent, Ottery St Mary, where a small intervention, through infrastructure and regulation, could help to prevent accidents and awful consequences in future.
In Ottery St Mary, there is a pedestrian bridge, Coleridge bridge, where many schoolchildren can avoid the roads and cross the river—at least, they could. Last year, a tree blew on to the bridge and made it impassable for pedestrians. I looked into why the repair work on that bridge is so slow and discovered that one reason is the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016: priority is being given to the salmon spawning season on the River Otter over the safety children going to and from school.
I appreciate that the Minister is answering for the Department for Transport and not for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, but she should know that I have written to DEFRA about the issue and had a most unsatisfactory reply about the regulations. I am seeking an exception to the regulations on salmon spawning where the safety of children and vulnerable people is at stake.
Coleridge bridge is just one example of a rigid policy designed for another public policy imperative having unintended but serious consequences for public safety. As one Ottery resident put it to me in an email,
“do we have to wait for there to be a serious incident involving a child or an elderly resident for prompt action?”
It has been over a year, and I understand that no work will begin until at least next summer. Given that our local authority, Devon county council, has the money and is ready to do the work, I urge that we in this place do our job to make the regulations more flexible to look after the safety of young people.
Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship for the second time this afternoon, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) on securing this important debate on road safety around schools, which is an issue that regularly comes up in my mailbox.
I have raised the issue of safety of children travelling to and from school in a debate on school transport in this place before. Every child in Northumberland deserves safe access to the best education; no child’s safety should ever be jeopardised in the process of achieving that. From Queen Elizabeth high school in Hexham to Haydon Bridge high school, Haltwhistle primary academy, Sele first school and Darras Hall primary school, every child in my constituency and beyond travelling to, from and around school should be safe. Yet between 2019 and 2023, some 1,414 young pedestrians and cyclists in the north-east were injured. Of those, 286 were seriously injured and six were fatally injured.
I will use my time to highlight one particular situation. There are three schools situated on Callerton Lane in Ponteland: Ponteland high school, Ponteland community primary school and Henry’s Hut pre-school. Insufficient signage on Callerton Lane to indicate the school zone in which there are not one but three schools continues to jeopardise the safety of students, teachers, parents and local residents. I am sure that every single Member from any party can agree that traffic calming measures, better road surfaces and clear signage should be one of the greatest priorities in local areas.
In rural regions with a higher rate of car ownership, the need for better signage and road conditions is even more pressing. Conducting speed surveys is a necessary first step, but, as is the case for Callerton Lane, they must be done in the correct place and the correct manner to ensure complete accuracy. I have urged and continue to urge Northumberland county council to reconduct some of the speed surveys around Callerton Lane to achieve total accuracy in determining accurate speed limits for the local schools of Ponteland.
Road safety education is just as important as improving road safety around schools and children should receive a comprehensive education to improve road awareness. I acknowledge the vital work of Road Safety GB North East and its new campaign to improve awareness on road and traffic safety for young people. I am pleased to see the pledge to fix 1 million potholes and give vital funding to improve our roads and elements of the travel journey to and from school. Through those local campaigns to raise awareness, urgent attention to the condition of my roads, which has already been pledged by this Government, and improvement to the signage around schools, our young people can receive the safety and security that they need and deserve.
I will briefly highlight one of my constituents, Rory, who wrote to me. He is very concerned about road safety on his street near his first school after his garden wall was knocked over by an Asda van. I will be writing to his local council to ask that signage on his street is improved.
John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) on securing this important debate and on her excellent contribution.
One key aspect of road safety around schools is drop-off and pick-up time, as my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tristan Osborne) has mentioned. I took action on that issue previously as a councillor—I continue to take action on it as an MP—working with fellow councillors, the local authority, the school leadership, the police and residents at Oakfield primary academy, where there had been problems the likes of which have been alluded to.
In Warwickshire, Eastlands primary school in my constituency was the site of a county council school street pilot scheme. Prior to that, there was what the council described as “inconsiderate parking”, “congestion”, and sometimes “complete gridlock” and a “threat to safety”. As I am sure we can all agree, that is a perennial problem, but the school street approach can help. In the case of the pilot scheme, restrictions were introduced using a traffic order. Two park-and-stride car parks gave parents alternative places to park and a new school crossing patrol on a busy road was implemented, all of which helped.
My experience in this space has led me to some observations, which the Minister will perhaps consider. Far more people are driving their children to school now than ever before. We may be able to do things with more public transport, safer cycle paths and more active lifestyles and walking, which are relevant to Government priorities for the NHS and transport in the long term. Some schools are in tightly packed residential streets, and that cannot be overcome in the short, medium or perhaps even long term. More children are attending schools away from their home address through either parental choice or local authority allocation. That can have an effect, because more journeys are being taken, so perhaps more work can be done on capacity.
Council enforcement can be done only when traffic regulation orders are in place, and they can be created only when a proper survey has taken place. Again, resources will then be an issue. I have spoken about this to the police, to which the public often turn. It can enforce only in some cases, and, with the best will in the world, it will never be able to enforce in this matter regularly. It is therefore vital that a partnership approach is used, whereby the school leadership liaises with parents and educates students, local residents are involved in discussions so that their frustrations are heard, the council and local councillors are aware and active, and the police are kept informed. I have tried to use that approach, and I have liaised with local residents. In the case of Oakfield primary, in my constituency, I encouraged a local business, Cemex, to pay for cartoon signs—I am sure we have all seen them around schools—designed to prevent people parking on grass verges or kerbs near the school. That has helped, as well.
More broadly, schools can consider other innovative options, such as arranging for students in some areas to walk to school. However, I am acutely aware that we need not to overburden hard-pressed teachers with additional responsibilities. They are already, quite understandably, reluctant to become quasi-traffic enforcement officers when dealing with people who are, after all, the parents of their students. I therefore welcome the Government’s renewed guidance, helping councils to deliver school streets that work for schools and local communities. I also commend the Government’s Active Travel England agency for recently releasing guidance to local authorities to help them implement school streets. It is important work.
In conclusion, there is no panacea, sadly, but more can definitely be done. I am glad that Warwickshire county council, working with local borough councils, hopes to introduce more school street schemes, focusing on primary schools. Those schemes can have a profound effect on improving the health of young people, reducing the risk of disagreements between parents and local residents, and, most importantly, making our schools much safer for our young people.
Christine Jardine (in the Chair)
Would the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) like to make some remarks? We will then move on to the Front Bench at eight minutes past.
Andy MacNae (Rossendale and Darwen) (Lab)
I very much appreciate you allowing me to speak, Ms Jardine, given that I was late to the debate. I thank the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) for securing it.
I have not prepared, so I will just make some broad points. I acknowledge everything that has been said today, and I would like to pick up on a few issues. In my constituency of Rossendale and Darwen, virtually all the primary schools are on key trunk roads, which unfortunately makes it difficult to consider school street schemes. Big wagons are passing continually and people are rushing to work. While each school might have a 20 mph zone outside it during school times, it is regularly and repeatedly ignored. Without enforcement and without recognition that there are consequences for people’s actions, it seems that we will have continual close calls in and around those schools. I ask the Minister—as I have asked her before—the extent to which we should be driving for the adoption of average speed cameras around primary schools as a way of embedding enforcement in the areas around schools on main roads, such as those in my constituency.
I would also like to touch on the point made by a couple of Opposition Members about not waiting until people are killed or injured before we act. Far too often, when local people raise a clear risk or threat—as my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Joe Morris) did—or when anyone around knows an accident is waiting to happen, they are told, “We have to wait for someone to be killed or injured before we act.” It is ridiculous, it is outmoded and it does not meet international best practice. We have to move to a community-led, risk-based approach that looks to prevent and predict accidents, rather than respond and react.
Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)
First of all, I want to congratulate the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) on securing this important debate. She spoke powerfully about the fact that our road safety has to be children-centred. I agree with her that 20 mph zones around schools should be the default position, and any council would then have to make an application stating why it should not happen.
We have heard from the hon. Member for Harlow (Chris Vince), the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), the hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tristan Osborne), my hon. Friend the Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord), the hon. Member for Hexham (Joe Morris), the hon. Member for Rugby (John Slinger) and the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae). I hope I got all their constituencies right. All the hon. Members told heartbreaking stories and gave sensible suggestions about how we can make roads around schools safer for children.
Road traffic accidents devastate families and communities and too many children are killed or injured where they should be safest. Every death is a tragedy, but it is not inevitable. Although there has been a reduction in the number of road fatalities in recent decades, particularly for children, there is still much more we can do. Over the past six years an average of 1,190 children have been injured each month within 500 metres of their school.
A third of road fatalities are caused by speeding. Bath community speed watch in my constituency, a bunch of highly dedicated and motivated people who stand for hours in all weather, have caught over 80,000 speeding vehicles. The volunteers do truly lifesaving work to reduce speed and dangerous collisions in Bath. I have talked to them, and as we have heard already, they often get abused for doing a job that saves lives. Speeding kills. Better enforcement of existing laws has been central to reducing death on our roads, and I was surprised to learn that almost half of traffic accidents occur between 3 pm and 6 pm, when children have already finished school. Bath community speed watch are therefore doing a very important job. They are also going into schools and educating young children on how to keep safe. I wish the children would then take home the message that the most dangerous thing is speeding cars, and also sometimes the way parents behave outside schools—something I have never understood in all my life as a parent, councillor or MP.
Families need to be less reliant on the car. However, far too many people do not have any alternatives to car travel because we do not have enough good bus services. Many of my young constituents have to rely on very bad bus services. All those things are linked. Young people do not cycle enough. Why? Because they do not get adequate training.
Wera Hobhouse
I fear I do not have time, but I am sure the hon. Member would make an excellent point.
Bikeability is an important scheme that we should all support, but the funding from the Department for Transport is currently not secure.
On average, nine young children are harmed on our roads every day, and 3,402 children aged seven and under were killed or injured on roads in Britain in 2022. There are many brilliant projects and many dedicated people who want to make a difference, but we need to do a lot more. To repeat what the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury said, we need to create road safety that is centred entirely around children. They are the most vulnerable and they are the future generation. We cannot afford to see all those thousands of young people injured and killed on our roads, and 2025 should be the year when we make a big difference to that.
Greg Smith (Mid Buckinghamshire) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the second time this afternoon, Ms Jardine. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) on securing this important debate and the powerful speech she gave. I add my condolences to the family of her constituent who so tragically died outside their school.
Road safety is something that we have to take incredibly seriously. This is the second debate in Westminster Hall this week on the subject of road safety, and I thank all hon. Members who have spoken powerfully in it. One death on the roads is one death too many, and it is particularly painful when the life lost is that of a child, who had so much in front of them and a whole life to live. As my hon. Friend the Member for Chester South and Eddisbury said, in each and every one of them was so much potential.
The risk profile in such accidents involving a child is self-evidently higher, and the impact on the lives of those around them is unimaginable. I do not think any of us—unless any Member has been in that place—can imagine the pain, horror and emotional rollercoaster that people go through in that nightmare scenario.
It is of no solace whatsoever to those families who have lost a loved one, but it is important to reflect that there has been some significant progress in the right direction in recent years and decades. It is welcome that the rate of child pedestrians killed or seriously injured has fallen by nearly 41% since 2010. That is not to say that there is anything good about people losing their lives; every life lost is an absolute tragedy. However, that decrease does show that there is a positive trajectory and direction of travel. We need to get it to zero, but my central point is that we are not in a place where the statistics are going up or the problem is becoming worse. That is not to say that there is not a lot still to do. For child cyclists, the rate of those killed or seriously injured has also decreased by 43% since 2010.
More broadly, the improvements across all road categories mean that, although there is more to do, the UK remains a world leader in road safety. According to the Department for Transport’s own figures, released in September last year, Great Britain ranked third out of 33 countries in 2023 for the lowest number of road fatalities per million of the population. That progress is reflected in child pedestrian fatalities, which have thankfully fallen; having regularly exceeded 100 a year, they are now consistently in the 20s. That is 20 too many, but it is a significant decrease.
However, challenges clearly remain. DFT data equally demonstrates that, up to the age of 11, pedestrian boys are twice as likely to be killed or seriously injured as pedestrian girls of the same age, and among those aged 12 to 15, boys are still 33% more likely to be killed or seriously injured. What discussions has the Minister had with local authorities, schools and the Department for Education, not just about how we solve the overall problem of improving road safety around schools, but about effective approaches to reduce this particular disparity?
Our focus has to be on making every possible move to improve road safety around schools. That is very much on my mind in my constituency, which is entirely rural, through a lens that is slightly different but makes the point well. A proposed anaerobic digester in one village would bring hundreds of additional HGV movements past schools, including those in Long Crendon and Oakley. It focuses the mind to think just how close so many of our schools—particularly those in rural villages—are to the fast-moving lanes and major routes that people use on a daily basis. The prospect of those dangerous, incredibly heavy HGVs being added to those roads focuses the mind even more.
I am very sympathetic to the ideas that my hon. Friend the Member for Chester South and Eddisbury and others have mentioned about specific speed limits in the vicinity of schools. That is always, and has to be, a decision taken locally by local authorities. I do not think there is a definite, one-size-fits-all solution for every single circumstance that central Government should dictate, but it is for central Government to ensure that the framework is there to make it easy for local authorities to put in place such speed limits where they wish to, and to put in place effective enforcement mechanisms.
It is all too often the case in my constituency—and, I dare say, in everybody else’s—that when a community comes forward and says it wants a particular change to road safety measures, such as a change in the speed limit to 20 mph, the hoops it has to jump through are so considerable, so difficult and involve so many different agencies that frustration sets in. In too many cases, nothing ever happens, or something a bit half-hearted happens. I encourage the Minister to look at what can be done to ensure that local authorities, when taking decisions on behalf of communities that want those changes, are able to do so easily and without the heavy-handed bureaucracy that too often goes with all these schemes. I encourage her in particular to ensure that schools themselves can go to their local authorities and get those changes made quickly.
I conclude by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Chester South and Eddisbury once more on securing this debate. I hope it prompts real and significant action from the Government.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Lilian Greenwood)
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) on securing this debate, and thank her for raising the vitally important issue of road safety around schools. She spoke powerfully and movingly on behalf of her constituents.
I thank the hon. Member for sharing the devastating story of the fatal collision outside the King’s school in her constituency. My sympathies go out to the family of the young person who lost his life, and to his friends, everyone at the school and the wider community. My hon. Friend the Member for Chester North and Neston (Samantha Dixon), who is here, has also met the family, who are her constituents, and is working with them and with her neighbour, the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury—on a cross-party basis, which is wonderful to see—to ensure that local partners work together to improve safety on the Wrexham Road.
I too have met many families with tragic stories of loved ones being killed and seriously injured in road traffic collisions. It is a position that no family should find themselves in: every death on our roads could and should be avoided. Every child has the right to be safe on their journey to and from school, and their parents should know that they will come home safely every day. That is why improving road safety, including the safety of children, is one of the highest priorities of my Department, and we intend to act to prevent road deaths and serious injuries.
A number of hon. Members talked about action to reduce speed, such as lowering speed limits and enforcing speed limits, including with speed cameras. The enforcement of road traffic law and deployment of available police resources are responsibilities of individual chief constables and police and crime commissioners, who take into account the specific local problems and demands that they face.
Local government is the main delivery body for road safety. Under section 39 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, local authorities have a statutory duty to take steps to both reduce and prevent collisions, and they have the power to set speed limits on their roads, including 20 mph limits and 20 mph zones. It is for them to determine what measures are appropriate in individual cases because they have local knowledge of their roads, but any authority that wishes to install such schemes has my Department’s full backing.
I understand that resources for local authorities are finite, and it is right that they focus on the areas of highest risk, which may be where fatal collisions have occurred, but there is nothing to stop them implementing road safety measures elsewhere, including places about which local communities have raised concerns, or where there have been near misses. My hon. Friends the hon. Members for Harlow (Chris Vince) and for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) rightly highlighted that point.
Local authorities also have the tools to improve safety outside schools, including reduced speed limits, traffic calming measures or, where appropriate, a school street. I welcome the support expressed by hon. Members today and agree that sharing good practice can be very helpful. I will certainly look at what more my Department can do, perhaps with the Local Government Association and others. Local councils want to make decisions about local implementation, in consultation with local communities and the local police. They know their roads best, and I simply cannot and should not dictate to them from Westminster. However, the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury made a powerful case for lower speed limits outside schools. Both she and the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) noted that we all make mistakes, and that collisions at higher speeds are much more likely to have tragic outcomes.
I agree that partnerships are essential, and that they should be looking at local-level interventions to make our roads safer. While local authorities are free to make their own decisions about the design of the streets under their care, provided they take account of the relevant legislation and guidance, they are rightly accountable to local people for those decisions. The Department will look at what more we can do to support them, and we stand ready to work with all those working to improve road safety at the local level.
On the tragic collision involving the young constituent of my hon. Friend the Member for Chester North and Neston, the Department is aware that Cheshire West and Chester council has already indicated that it has commissioned an independent review of Wrexham Road close to King’s school, and I am sure that it will listen to today’s debate and take note of the community’s petition.
Let me turn to some of the wider issues around road safety and schools. This Government are setting our sights high on active travel, whether that means walking, wheeling or cycling. We are committed to promoting greener journeys, no matter how people choose to travel. It is key to improving public health; by preventing illness, rather than just treating it, we can make a real difference. The biggest gains come from helping inactive people to get moving, which is why we are focused on breaking down barriers for those who need it most and do not have options, such as older people, disabled people and children.
For children, early habits matter. That is why, in November 2024, Active Travel England and the Department published school streets guidance. As hon. Members have noted, these schemes do not just make school runs safer; they build lifelong habits of active travel.
Lilian Greenwood
I am afraid not, just because I am so short of time.
Turning to the role of education, alongside delivering paid behaviour change campaigns to support a lifelong learning approach to road safety education, THINK! has a suite of road safety teaching resources for children of all ages. Road casualty data shows that the number of child pedestrian casualties doubles between the ages of nine and 11—no doubt when they are first allowed to walk to school on their own—and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tristan Osborne) noted, incidents are more likely to happen during school drop-off and pick-up times.
Following research with parents, the 2024 influencer-led THINK! Safe Adventures campaign aims to encourage parents across the country to help their children adopt safe road behaviours as they prepare for independent travel—often when they move to secondary school. I very much agree with my hon. Friends the Members for Chatham and Aylesford and for Rugby (John Slinger) on the importance of parents also behaving safely when they are dropping children off at school. I am sure that all of us have seen some dangerous behaviours in that regard.
The THINK! activity I have just described focuses on the top three risky behaviours, based on the top contributory factors assigned to child pedestrian casualties: failing to look and distractions, finding a safe place to cross, and being in a hurry. I want to draw attention to our THINK! resources. The popular “Tales of the Road” resource is an interactive PDF—downloadable and printable—aimed at children aged three to 12, and it conveys information about how to cross the road safely, the green cross code, and level-crossing advice from National Rail. I was pleased to hear about other local education programmes, including the one highlighted by my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Joe Morris).
As I said, I have heard too many heartbreaking stories of loss and serious injury, including those raised today. I want to assure hon. Members that the Government treat road safety with the utmost seriousness, and we are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. That is why the Department is developing our road safety strategy—the first in over a decade. We will set out more details in due course.
I thank all hon. Members who have participated in the debate. Even if I have not had the chance to take interventions or respond directly, all of their ideas and suggestions will help to inform our thinking. It is clear that there is a real appetite for change. People want safer roads. I will be pleased to keep in touch with the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury and other Members, and I congratulate her again on securing today’s important debate.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House has considered road safety around schools.