School Streets Programme Phase 1

Public Consultation Report

Prepared by: ESCC, Infrastructure Planning & Place Team

June 2024

Contents

Executive Summary

1. Introduction

2. Informal Consultation

3. Public Consultation

Executive Summary

A School Street is where a road outside a school is temporarily restricted to motor vehicles. It remains open to the school community on foot, cycle, or scooter at drop off and pick up times, giving everyone the space they need to get to school and move around their local environment safely.

Following a trial at six schools in East Sussex in March 2021 as part of the Emergency Active Travel Fund (EATF) Programme Tranche 2 and following an evaluation of these schemes, three of the six schools were prioritised for concept design work to be undertaken to enable more permanent school street measures to be explored. The three schools are Southover CE Primary (Lewes), Langney Primary (Eastbourne) and All Saints CE Primary (Sidley, Bexhill).

The scheme proposals have been developed in partnership with the school community and those who live and work in the immediate area around each school street. Engagement took place through workshops with the school, local communities and businesses during 2022 on concept design work. Detailed design work was undertaken with stakeholders during 2023/24 following funding secured from Active Travel England (ATE).

In May 2023 a public consultation was held for each of the three schools. In summary the results of the public consultation highlighted the following:

· Southover CE Primary, Lewes (190 responses) – 81% of respondents strongly supported the scheme. Concerns were raised in relation to the location of the proposed planters in Cleve Terrace and The Course and the need for the scheme to improve safety. Requests were also made for a pedestrian crossing in Southover High Street, for wider measures (encompassing Western Road Primary School) and for a park and stride scheme in the vicinity of the school.

· Langney Primary, Eastbourne (26 responses) – 50% of respondents strongly supported and 27% supported the proposals with 23% strongly opposing. Those respondents not in support of the proposals raised concerns predominantly about the impact and effectiveness of the Redford Close elements of the scheme. In addition, concern was raised over current enforcement of parking restrictions and need to consider delivery of wider measures to support active travel for short journeys.

· All Saints CE Primary, Sidley, Bexhill (24 responses) – 83% strongly supported the scheme with requests received for the scheme to improve safety and to consider delivery of wider measures to support active travel for school journeys.

Responses were also received from Sussex Police and East Sussex Fire and Rescue, both were supportive, but raised one query in relation to enforcement of the restrictions which are a Police responsibility.

From an analysis of the potential options for regulating the proposed restricted access in the extent of the school street, it is recommended that an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) is introduced. With exemptions for residential access, this will enable the ongoing evaluation of the scheme over an 18-month period and to make adjustments accordingly. To embed the delivery and operation of the scheme we have secured funding from ATE to deliver a travel behaviour change programme for the three schools. This approach is not dissimilar to how other local authorities, including West Sussex County Council and Brighton & Hove City Council, are managing the delivery of similar schemes.

The delivery of the Phase 1 measures for each of the three schools is programmed for construction during the 2024 school summer holiday period. These schemes will be delivered using capital funding secured from ATE. Further work will be undertaken on those identified Phase 2 measures to establish whether further assessment or design work is required to bring them forward alongside exploring funding opportunities to enable their delivery in the future.

1. Introduction

1.1 This report has been prepared to record the processes carried out and to record and comment on the results of the formal public consultation.

1.2 A School Street is where a road outside a school is temporarily restricted to motor vehicles at the beginning and end of the school day. With the objective that it remains open to the school community on foot, cycle, or scooter at drop off and pick up times, giving everyone the space, they need to get to school and move around their local environment safely

1.3 The Phase 1 School Streets Programme is focussed on three schools:-

· Southover CofE Primary

· Langney Primary

· All Saints CofE Primary

1.4 The school, local community and businesses have been engaged with since the trial schemes, through a co-design process, which has involved the community actively co-creating the identified measures, as part of both the concept design and detailed design work.

1.5 The engagement was followed by a formal public consultation in May 2024 for three weeks, which included consultation with statutory consultees.

1.6 The feedback as part of the co-design work and the public consultation alongside the assessment of deliverability of the schemes has informed which measures will come forward as part of Phase 1. Other measures that were identified as part of the co-design work will form part of further phases of delivery.

1.7 The measures included for Phase 1 will focus on delivering the school street access restrictions alongside some more minor access improvements within each school street and their wider respective areas.

2. Informal Consultation

2.1 The County Council developed and delivered a School Streets trial programme

in 2021, with six schools, during the Covid 19 pandemic as part of our Emergency Active Travel Fund (EATF) Programme - Tranche 2. This involved consultation with the school, local community and businesses.

2.2 The School Streets trial evaluation outlined a number of benefits

including the perception of safety on the journey to and from the respective schools. Surveys undertaken to assess mode of travel to school demonstrated that active travel modes of transport increased at three schools and remained unchanged at one. Park & Stride (leaving the car approximately 10 minutes’ walk from school) increased significantly at four schools enabling more pupils to walk some or part of their journey. In addition, many schools and families cited the greater sense of space that the trial provided enabling children to play and enabling people to engage with each other.

2.3 The outcomes of the evaluation of the trial and the independent assessment,

resulted in three schools being prioritised for concept design work to enable more permanent school street measures to be explored. The schools which were prioritised are as outlined in paragraph 1.3 above.

2.4 The concept design work commenced in Spring 2022. Workshops were held

to enable stakeholders to reflect on what worked and did not work during the trial and to begin to identify the types of permanent measures which could be considered for inclusion in a future scheme.

2.5 The outcome of the concept design work resulted in agreement across all stakeholders at all three schools to restrict access at school drop off and pick up in the areas immediately outside of the school, but stakeholders also acknowledged that access still needed to be maintained to local residents in roads directly in the vicinity of the school as well as local businesses and community buildings. The concept designs also included measures within the school street to start to change the public realm and generated debate around wider measures and initiatives to support active travel for short local journeys within the wider community outside the confines of the school.

2.6 The County Council commissioned Sustrans to undertake the detailed design work for the three school streets schemes in 2023/24. Similar to the concept design work the detailed co-design involved undertaking a series of further workshops in autumn 2023 with specific different audiences - the school community including pupils, parents and carers and school staff); local members; residents and businesses – at each of the three schools. Each audience was asked to consider which measures subject to funding should be included within the school street scheme and which would support wider access to the schools and local community amenities.

2.7 The co – design work on the detailed designs informed the measures prioritised for inclusion within the public consultation. The results of which can be seen in section 3 of this report.

3. Public Consultation

3.1 Following the extensive co-design engagement with the school, local

community and businesses a formal public consultation was undertaken between 10 – 31 May 2024. This also included consultation with statutory consultees.

3.2 The public consultation was available via the ESCC Citizen Space

Consultation Hub as well as paper copies of the consultation questionnaire and scheme maps available on request. Letters were also delivered to all properties within the proposed scope of the scheme, to promote the consultation.

3.3 A separate consultation was undertaken for each of the below schools:-

· Southover CofE Primary

· Langney Primary

· All Saints CofE Primary

3.4 The consultation results according to each school is outlined below.

Southover CofE Primary School

3.5 We received a high volume of responses to the public consultation for this

scheme, with 190 responses received via the ESCC consultation hub.

3.6 The responses to the specific questions asked as part of the consultation are outlined in the below graphs.

Figure 1: To what extent do you support the proposed restriction of vehicle access?

Figure 2: To what extent do you support the delivery of the footway at Southover High Street (junction of Potters Lane)?

Table 1: Open question responses

Comment	Number	Response
No Response to Q	50	None
The scheme is supported	67	Your support is noted
Trial/planning/forecasting	2	A previous School Streets Trial was undertaken, using barriers and paid staff to manage the scheme, which was successful, with limited impact on traffic flows on alternative streets. We will work with the school to encourage parents to use alternative, safer locations to drop their children off or to park elsewhere and walk the final section of the journey to the school We do not believe that winter will significantly alter the mode of travel of students to the schools
The potential for wider impacts from the scheme	10	An Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) is proposed to be introduced. With exemptions for residential access, this will enable the ongoing evaluation of the scheme over an 18-month period, during which time changes can be made periodically, normally at six-month intervals, to any restrictions in response to any feedback received. Up to but by the end of the 18-month ETRO period, the restrictions can be made permanent or can be withdrawn if appropriate.
Concerns about existing safety conditions outside of the school - including Southover High Street	33	We note the comments regarding current safety concerns within and around the School Street. This scheme is the first phase of wider area-based School Street measures that will look at wider routes to school and measures to support walking, wheeling and cycling as part of Phase 2.
Resident parking (difficulties) / more residents parking in area	3	Your comments on resident parking difficulties are noted. Whilst there are no plans at present to increase the number of parking bays in the local area, it is hoped that the next phases (wider area based measures) will help reduce school drop-off/pick-up parking in the immediate area around the school, providing greater assurance to residents in finding a space and to support the health benefits from walking, wheeling and cycling for students..
Request for a Park & stride scheme to be set up	18	Suggestions and comments on a drop-off and park and stride are noted. Any park & stride / drop-off will be considered under Phase 2 (area based measures). In addition to the consideration of any site, we also need to ensure the route to the school is safe through the provision of crossing locations and other measures. We also need to ensure that any park and stride locations do not impact on the main use of that car park (e.g. County Hall for visitors or the Sports Club) and that spaces will be available for parents at school pick-up and drop-off times.
Concerns around air quality raised	6	Comments around air quality are noted. The scheme is designed to improve air quality in the vicinity of the school by removing vehicles from the area during school pick-up and drop-off times. Phase 2 will consider area based measures that look at the wider route to school and community and it is anticipated that the delivery of these, in the future, will further reduce the number of cars travelling to the school gates, and encourage parents and students to walk the final part of the journey from a location a short distance from the school
Wider measures welcomed / suggestions / initiatives / disappointing in scale of plans (i.e. needs to be wider)	28	Comments and suggestions on wider area measures are noted. These will be included within the next phase of proposals (wider area-based measures) to support walking, wheeling and cycling. As the scheme is being phased, it is likely that those who feel the proposed school street measures are limited and do not fully address all the issues in the local area will see further improvements under area based measure proposals that will include Western Road Primary School entrance and Southover High Street within the remit of the phase. The proposals consulted upon are the first step in delivering area-based School Street measures that will benefit students at the schools and the wider community once all phases have been delivered
Concerns about existing parking issues	11	Comments on parking are noted. We will pass these onto our parking team colleagues and see if increased enforcement can be undertaken, both before and post scheme delivery.
Trip chaining / need to drive	3	Comments about parents chaining trips (e.g. doing the school trip whilst travelling to work) and disabled access are noted. The scheme would encourage parents to park a short distance away and walk their children the final distance to the school and benefit from the school street. Disabled blue badge holders will be exempt from the restrictions.
Cleve / St Pancras Road safety concerns (including with planters)	11	Comments regarding the planters and access/egress from Cleve Terrace at the junction with St Pancras Road are noted. As a result of feedback and the gradient of the road, the role and viability of the planters is being reviewed and alternative options being considered.
Safety (post scheme)	4	A previous School Street Trial was undertaken, with barriers and paid staff to manage the scheme, which was successful, with limited impact on traffic flows on alternative streets. We do not anticipate any changes to conditions compared to pre-scheme on roads in the wider area. We are also going to be developing wider area-based measures in Phase 2 that will seek to address the concerns about safety in the wider area and help complete safer routes through the local community to the school.
Extend hours	9	Comments and requests on extending the hours of restriction are noted. The hours proposed have been developed with the school and are designed to be minimal and focus on the times that students arrive and leave school. Shorter times will also have less of an impact on local business in the vicinity whose customers and servicing may use the street.
Parking - ease restrictions at school times / alignment with rest of Lewes	2	Comments around parking restrictions at school times are noted. At present there are no proposals to alter the parking restrictions in the area around the school. Phase 2 will consider a park and stride site (as has been suggested during this consultation) and a safe route to the school from any location, which will provide an alternative to parking on local streets where parking restrictions are found.
Request full pedestrianisation/pedestrian priority	1	Your suggestions are noted. It is not possible to pedestrianise the area as access is required to the school and local properties. The restricted access will provide pedestrian and cyclist priority during school pick-up and drop-off times. The Highway Code provides further information to drivers (and all road users) about understanding their responsibilities for the safety of others.
Elsewhere in Lewes	10	This School Street (and the other two also consulted upon) are being used for ESCC to develop a framework to deliver school streets and area-based measures that can be rolled out to all schools across the county as and when funding is available. The wider area-based measures will support local communities and not just be focused on the school street, with many schools also being located near local centres, shops and other community amenities.
Stronger restriction enforcement	3	Comments and requests for alternative enforcement of the restricted access are noted. The restricted access to the school street will be through signage only using an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (which means it will be monitored during an 18 month period, which will allow for amendments to the scheme) and combined with the delivery of active travel initiatives with the school community to support travel behaviour change. Enforcement will be the responsibility of Sussex Police and the enforcement of any on-street markings will be undertaken by ESCC's Parking team
What materials will be used?	3	The use of materials will be similar to those used in the existing environment.
General scheme enforcement queries	7	The restricted access to the school street will be through signage only using an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (which means it will be monitored during an 18 month period, which will allow for amendments to the scheme) and combined with the delivery of active travel initiatives with the school community to support travel behaviour change. Enforcement will be the responsibility of Sussex Police and the enforcement of any on-street markings will be undertaken by ESCC's Parking team
Maintenance now	1	Comments about the need for maintenance now on local streets have been passed to our highways maintenance team. East Sussex Highways welcome the reporting of highway defects and issues (https://live.eastsussexhighways.com/report-problem)
Another scheme suggestion	1	Your comments on a new road to provide relief to Southover High Street are noted. It falls outside the remit for the school street and is unlikely to happen due to the costs involved and the local heritage and conservation area.
Restrict cycling during restricted times	1	The School Street seeks to promote active travel to/from school and cyclists will not be banned from using the route or having to push their bike. It is expected that all users of Potters Lane during the closure will consider the safety of other users and behave appropriately.
Monitoring & evaluation	4	The school street scheme will be monitored and evaluated.
Impact on local heritage context	1	Pavement materials and changes have been careful designed to suit the local heritage context and be in keeping with the local conservation area. Appropriate colleagues within ESCC and Lewes Town Council have been involved in the discussions around materials and impact on the local area
Support planters (visual deterrent to vehicles) / Greening space	3	Comments supporting the planters are noted. As a result of feedback and the gradient of the road, the role and viability of the planters is being reviewed and alternative options being considered.
20mph enforcement	1	Speed limit enforcement is a matter for Sussex Police.
School policies on entrances used	1	We will work with the schools to promote safe routes to/from the schools and this includes the use of South High Street Car park opposite Southover Grange. Phase 2 will consider the role of this car park within wider area based measures.

Table 2: Open question responses

Comment	Number	Response
No response	5	None
Will maintenance of the footways be considered?	1	The condition of the footway has been considered, and will be addressed as appropriate
Was a 20mph zone considered?	1	Consideration of speed limits will be during phase 2 (wider area-based measures)
The scheme is supported	9	Your support is noted
Will measures for the wider area be considered?	4	Comments and suggestions on wider area measures are noted. These will be included within the next phase of proposals (wider area-based measures) to support walking, wheeling and cycling.
Please can access for the school only be via Chailey Close	1	This is a matter for the school. Please can we ask that you contact them.
Concerns about existing safety conditions outside of the school	3	We note the comments regarding current safety concerns within and around the School Street. This scheme is the first phase of a wider area-based School Street scheme that will assess the routes to school and opportunities for measures to support walking, wheeling and cycling. These will of course be subject to funding being secured.
Patterns v Pedestrian crossing	1	The on-street patterns and wider scheme help reinforce to drivers they are entering a school street area and that young people may be around and to consider the safety of other users (as per the Highway Code)
Waste of money	2	The funding to develop these school street schemes was successfully secured from Active Travel England and is specifically for this scheme.
Issues not on closes but Etchingham Road	1	The proposals consulted upon are the first step in delivering area based School Street measures that will benefit students at the schools and the wider community. Etchingham Road will continue to be considered under Phase 2
Concerns about existing parking issues at the school	10	Comments on inconsiderate parking are noted. We will pass these onto our parking team colleagues.
Request for a Park & stride scheme to be set up	1	Suggestions and comments on park and stride are noted. Any park & stride / drop-off will be considered under Phase 2 (areas based measures). In addition to the consideration of any site, we also need to ensure the route to the school is safe through the provision of crossing locations and other measures. We also need to ensure that any park and stride locations do not impact on the main use of that car park and that spaces will be available for parents at school pick-up and drop-off times.
Trespassing on private property	1	Issues you raise such as using private property to wait should be raised with the persons concerned and the school.

Table : Open question responses

Comment	Number	Response
No response	15	None
The scheme is supported	2	Your support is noted
Cycle Lane/parking	1	The contraflow cycle lane will be signed only from the junction of Turkey Road and All Saints Lane to the junction of All Saints Lane and Ninfield Road. This means that people cycling will be able to do so in both directions.
Can additional pedestrian crossings be included as part of the design?	3	The potential for pedestrian crossings within the wider area, on routes to school, will be considered in Phase 2 of this project which is subject to future funding being secured to assess the opportunities.
Will disabled blue badge holders be exempt?	3	Yes, access will not be restricted for blue badge holders.
Concerns about existing safety conditions at the school	3	We note the comments regarding current safety concerns within and around the School Street. This scheme is the first phase of a wider area-based School Street scheme that will assess the routes to school and opportunities for measures to support walking, wheeling and cycling. These will of course be subject to funding being secured.
How will the scheme be enforced?	2	The restricted access to the school street will be through signage only using an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (which means it will be monitored during an 18 month period, which will allow for amendments to the scheme) and combined with the delivery of active travel initiatives with the school community to support travel behaviour change. Enforcement will be the responsibility of Sussex Police and the enforcement of any on-street markings will be undertaken by ESCC's Parking team
Request for a Park & Stride initiative from a nearby car park	1	ESCC is aware of the Rother District Council car park, which is in close proximity to the school. The opportunity to use this as an official park and stride site for the school will be considered as part of Phase 2 (wider area-based measures).