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Schools in Bradford have received new, improved bike and scooter parking facilities as part of a West Yorkshire-wide scheme to enable more children to cycle or scoot to school.
The scheme is funded through the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Active Travel Fund. Low Ash Primary School in Wrose was one of the first schools to benefit, with a new ten space bike parking shelter installed along with parking for ten scooters. In Bradford, a further 14 schools will benefit from the scheme.
Across West Yorkshire, the scheme will provide over 4,000 scooter parking spaces, and more than 1,000 bike parking spaces, with over 100 schools expected to receive new facilities. This is one element of support available to schools from the Active Travel Fund programme, with local authorities delivering a programme of School Streets, as well as a wide range of further cycling and scooting initiatives including new fleets of balance bikes and training for pupils and staff.
Schools will also be eligible to become ‘Bike Friendly Schools’, a project delivered by the Combined Authority’s CityConnect programme, which supports schools across West Yorkshire to proactively encourage their pupils to travel by bike, scooter or on foot. Over 60 schools have already taken part in the project with 50% of pupils, who have received training, learning to ride for the first time.
Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin said: “My pledge to you is to tackle the climate emergency. Enabling more people to be able to travel sustainably, and to encourage young people to adopt active lifestyles, is key to this. Cycling, walking and scooting are brilliant ways of travelling to school, and providing great facilities and the tools to do this will support more families to be more confident to be more active as part of the school run.”
Councillor Manisha Kaushik, deputy chair of West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Transport Committee, said: “It’s fantastic to see this brilliant scheme start to be delivered across West Yorkshire. providing schools with new secure bike and scooter parking will give more people more opportunity to travel more actively.
“Supporting people in our schools, workplaces and communities to travel by bike and on foot is more important than ever as we look to address the health, transport and economic challenges created by COVID-19, but also in helping our region achieve its aim of becoming a net zero carbon economy by 2038.”
Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, portfolio holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport for Bradford MDC, said: “We’re delighted that a number of our schools are having new bike and scooter parking installed.
“Cycling and scooting to and from school is great exercise for children. As well as the physical health benefits, there is evidence that children who travel actively to school arrive more alert and ready to learn. If we are encouraging children to use their bikes and scooters they need to have somewhere to safely store them.”
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