Living School Streets

A new concept for creating clean air hubs in our community that create safe environments for people to walk, cycle and scoot.

Islington Council has successfully implemented 35 school streets across the borough, reducing Nox by up to 83% outside schools. This transformation is radical and shows the opportunity to reduce air pollution further.

The vision for Living School Streets is for local communities to reimagine the street space outside schools and reprioritise usage for the safety of children.

Key stakeholders to include in the vision making include; parents, school, residents, housing associations, the council, local community groups.

Our Vision

Traffic needs to be either filtered or reduced in speed to 5mph. The shape of the street can be altered so drivers need to navigate curves rather than speed on a straight road. The road can be coloured to identify the change of road use.

All parking should be removed to prevent idling and unnecessary car journeys.

The car parking space and zig zag chevrons can be repurposed into rain gardens or planters. Trees and shrub layers planted to attract wildlife into the urban environment.

Street furniture can be changed to be child friendly and replace metal railings with child focussed bollards.

Nearby green space can be opened up to create a natural flow and blend the environments.

Funding

Each Living School Street group may want to include all or some of the elements. Funding may be provided by the local council greening fund or the group can access business sponsorship or crowdfund in the community.

Long term

Living School Streets reimagine the purpose of our streets and will demonstrate how we can reimagine our streets everywhere.