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Three years ago SPOKES issued a "Challenge" to Lothian Schools to come up with ideas that would encourage cycling to school. There were winners in all four Lothian council areas. As a direct result of the Challenge, City of Edinburgh Council set up a Safer Routes to School pilot project with four schools (two of which were SPOKES Challenge winners - Bruntsfield Primary and Royal High).
Last year SPOKES was successful in bidding for Scottish Office Cycle Challenge money for two projects, a map one which produced the great new Midlothian Cycle Map and one for the continuation and expansion of Safe Routes work. For this SPOKES set up Lothian Safe Routes.
In the last eighteen months LSR has worked closely with a number of schools, organised a trip to York to see how things are done there, commissioned research on how Lothian children would like to get to school and run a highly successful conference. One of the delegates was Sarah Boyack a hopeful candidate for the Scottish Parliament. She is now Minister for Transport and the Environment!
Since the election SPOKES and LSR have been busy writing letters to MSPs and new councillors calling for cycling AND walking to be given much greater priority. LSR helped Sciennes Primary School to organise the first day of its Walk to School Week (24th of May) which attracted five MSPs (from different parties!) and an STV camera crew.
Donald Gorrie Liberal Democrat
"I was most impressed. I have often been told of the success of the ‘train’ at Sciennes and was delighted to see for myself how successful it is.
Kenny MacAskill SNP - he is a parent at the school and already walks his children there three days a week.
"An excellent innovation from a pupil’s perspective. It provides a healthy way of getting to school and from a parent’s perspective its a safe and secure way for their children to get to school".
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton Conservative
"The train was very impressive and highlighted the case for mandatory speeds of 20mph, or less, outside schools. This will be an issue for the Scottish Parliament."
Angus MacKay Labour
"I thought it was an excellent initiative. I was impressed by the number of children and parents who participated and I think it really brought home how quickly and safely children could get to school on foot - given the right circumstances."
Robin Harper Green
" An excellent initiative. If every primary school in the country does something similar we could effect a revolution in a relatively short time - like a couple of years. It’s not just about legislation it’s about changing people’s attitudes."
A tale of two cities and two sets of cycle racks. On the left (below) there is space for over two hundred bikes, but for years the racks have been completely unused. On the right a secure shed with room for about fifty cycles - full on most school days. Sadly the picture below is Portobello High School in Edinburgh. However it looks like Porty pupils may soon get their own cage. A gang of four highly motivated pupils has decided to increase the numbers cycling (and walking) to school. Their plans were helped by a visit to York organised by Lothian Safe Routes. Children from four schools in Edinburgh visited two schools in York and saw two different styles of cycle shed. They also met local council officials who showed the traffic calming measures near the schools which have succeeded in reducing the speed and volume of traffic. Something that would be most welcome in Duddingston Road outside Portobello High.
The self styled "Porty Path Patrollers" entered a 'green transport' competition organised by the RAC. The Grass Routes competition was "designed to tackle traffic congestion generated by the school run". Competition judges "felt that Portobello's inventive use of video, use of humour and the ability to engage their peers in the issue made the entry stand out.". They won second prize and now have £1000 to put towards the creation of a lockable cycle store.
One thing that SPOKES and Lothian Safe Routes feel strongly about is Cycle (proficiency) Training. We welcome the new scheme devised by the Scottish Road Safety Campaign and piloted by Lothian & Borders Police. It involves an on-road element which means that children learn to cycle in more realistic conditions than just in the playground. However not all schools can find volunteers - teachers or parents - to deliver it.
York Council has demonstrated that organised cycle trained delivered by paid staff is cost effective. Trained cyclists cycle more and have fewer accidents. Parents and education authorities wouldn't expect swimming to be taught by unpaid, unqualified volunteers. Cycling is far more likely to be done by children, unsupervised, in more dangerous places than swimming pools - so why do they allow volunteers to teach cycle safety? The Government has recently found considerable sums of money for computers in schools and also classroom assistants. We will continue to campaign until the Scottish Parliament agrees to provide a fraction of these sums for dedicated cycle trainers to cover all schools.
Earlier this year Lothian Safe Routes held a highly successful conference at the University of Edinburgh. One hundred and twenty parents, pupils, teachers, councillors and council officials heard a wide range of speakers talk on all aspects of Safe Routes to Schools. The most inspiring was writer and actor Patrick Field of the London School of Cycling who was entertaining and thought provoking. Pupils from Sciennes delivered their fine tape-slide show. Officials from all four Lothian councils gave strong presentations about their work reinforcing the truth that there is no simple answer to 'Safe Routes'.
Every school is different for a host of reasons - size, location, attitude of staff - particularly the Head Teacher. However in addition to the bullet point issues on this page, there are lots of simple things that schools can do to raise awareness and change attitudes, such as highlighting that the school encourages walking and cycling in newsletters and handbooks.
These are spreading across Edinburgh - and hopefully further afield. The first was at the Royal High School. This is a campaign and bicycle repair group run by pupils. Next came Roseburn School Cycle Club which mainly rides the North Edinburgh Network On the other side of town at Craigmillar Primary School the Club is also for cycle rides. Destinations so far have included Portobello, Musselburgh, Edinburgh College of Art and The People's Story Museum. Around twenty pupils usually take part along with the Head Teacher. Sciennes has recently started fortnightly Friday afternoon trips with around thirty children and a dozen adults. Davidson's Mains (with help from Royal High Pupils) and Preston Street are the latest schools introducing children to the joys of cycling on off-road paths and (mostly) quiet roads.
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Tel: 0131 313 2114 (a/phone only) or e-mail to spokes@spokes.org.uk