School Parking Exclusion Zone Evaluation
Renfrewshire Council · 15 June 2022
Back to Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board — 15 June 2022 and its agenda
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To: Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board On: 15 June 2022 Report by: Director of Communities and Housing Services and Director of Environment and Infrastructure Services Heading: School Parking Exclusion Zones – Safer Schools Evaluation 1. Summary 1.1 Officers have been working on developing and delivering a School Parking Exclusion Zones/Safer School pilot at 4 schools across Renfrewshire. The pilot was due to begin in 2020, however, the global Covid-19 pandemic prevented the pilot from starting due to schools being closed with pupils studying from home on several occasions during 2020/2021. 1.2 As a result, the period of the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order was extended, and the pilot officially started following the Easter Break in April 2021. To allow a full evaluation to take place, the scheme was extended until the end of March 2022. 1.3 To understand the full impact of the zones, Renfrewshire Council invited everyone affected by the road restrictions e.g. schools, staff, parents, children, residents and partners to complete a survey on the zones. There were 91 responses to the 4-week survey. 1.4 The results of the evaluation are detailed below in Section 4 of this report with the survey questions being attached as Appendix 1 to this report for the information of members.
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2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that the Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board: (i) Notes the evaluation of the School Parking Exclusion Zones pilot that took place between April 2021 and March 2022 with the evaluation undertaken in Feb/March 2022. (ii) Approves the use of a range of interventions set out in section 5 of this report, tailored to the needs of schools and communities across Renfrewshire, including the 4 pilot schools, to improve the safety of children and tackle parking patterns and traffic movements around schools. 3. Background 3.1 A paper was presented to the Communities, Housing and Planning Policy Board on 21 May 2019 updating on previous road safety campaigns and seeking the approval of a number of actions that would seek to tackle this issue. 3.2 One was a proposal to pilot the introduction of school exclusion zones around certain schools within Renfrewshire for a 9-month period. 3.3 Following a desk top review of all primary schools across Renfrewshire and discussions with Children’s Services, 4 schools were chosen to pilot school parking exclusion zones. These zones prohibited cars from entering/leaving at set times during the day at the start and end of the school day. 3.4 The schools chosen for the pilot were: • Barsail Primary School (Erskine) • Lochfield Primary School (Paisley) • St Catherine’s Primary School (Gallowhill, Paisley) • St Charles Primary School (Paisley) 3.5 As part of the pilot, certain streets were closed around the schools. The timings were 45 minutes in the morning and afternoon (8.30am – 9.15am and 2.30pm – 3.15pm). During this time, the street became a pedestrian zone. 3.6 It was initially intended that the pilot would run for approximately 9 months (Easter 2020 – December 2020), however, due to Covid-19 this was delayed and the start date became April 2021 with the pilot running up to March 2022.
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3.7 Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) were prepared and published with community consultation undertaken. 3.8 As a result of a significant majority of objectors to the proposed Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders being school staff, discussions were held with the headteachers of each of the schools affected, with a report taken to the Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board on 4 November 2020 at which time it was agreed as part of the pilot that staff would get an exemption from entering/leaving the zone during the restricted times. 3.9 Meetings also took place with Senior Officers in Police Scotland to ensure collaboration and enable a multi-disciplinary approach to implementing the pilot. 3.10 As part of the project, the newly recruited Road Safety Officer worked with all 4 schools to prepare Active Travel Zone leaflets to allow an easy reference to show the exclusion zones, 5-minute walk zone and key walking routes. An example of the Active Travel Zone leaflet for St Charles PS is attached as Appendix 2. 3.11 A dedicated page was provided on the Council website and affected residents contacted and advised how to receive a residents exemption badge. 3.12 Following the introduction of the pilot, Officers from Community Safety (Renfrewshire Wardens) and Police Scotland visited the zones as part of routine visits to schools. 4. Evaluation of pilot 4.1 As part of the pilot, an evaluation of the effectiveness of the scheme has been undertaken. Initially a baseline assessment was carried out before the pilot to assess the challenges faced, counts of vehicles in streets and where any displaced traffic may go when streets were closed. 4.2 Some of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were qualitative as well as quantitative, however, evaluation included: • Counts of vehicles entering zones • Number of penalty charges issued to vehicles entering the zones • Number of issues raised by schools • Near misses/accidents • Reduction in traffic congestion • Increase in Walking/Cycling and reduced car journeys • Survey and speaking to parents/carers, teachers, children, Elected Members to see if pilot effective.
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Vehicle Count Survey 4.3 As part of the on-going evaluation, a vehicle count was undertaken by a consultant before, during and towards the end of the pilot to ascertain any behaviour changes for each school. 4.4 From the survey, it was noted that the road closures resulted in 50-80% less traffic moving directly outside the schools during the restricted periods. This was recorded mid-way through the pilot and did not change appreciably by the end. However, it should be noted that parents have either been arriving in the street before the period starts (and parking) or parking more in the surrounding streets, depending on location: • Barsail PS o Midway through pilot - The number of cars on the road outside the school was up 27% from what it used to be, but the surrounding streets remained the same. The area around Park Winding has dropped by around 5%. o End of pilot – The number of parked cars on the road outside school is up by 65%, in surrounding streets up 28%, and in the Park Winding area up 6%. 72 340 201 438 166 355 0 100 200 300 400 500 Road Outside School Surrounding Streets Count of parked vehicles by zone - Barsail INITIAL EXTENSION BEFORE 418 445 395 370 380 390 400 410 420 430 440 450 Surrounding Streets Count of parked vehicles by zone - Park Windings INITIAL EXTENSION BEFORE
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• Lochfield PS o Midway through pilot – parking in the road outside school has increased by four times whereas the surrounding streets have seen an increase of 10%. o End of pilot – parking in road outside reduced to 2.5 times the original and surrounding streets reduced to around a 5% increase. • St Catherine’s PS o Midway through pilot - Parking on the road outside increased to twice original amount and in the surrounding streets by 23%. o End of pilot – parking on the school road is up 66%, surrounding area is up 20%. • St Charles PS o Midway through pilot - little change in cars parked in the street outside the school, although noted there were very few to start with. Around 10% increase in cars parked in surrounding streets o End of pilot – same picture as above. 0 200 400 600 800 1000 Road Outside School Surrounding Streets Count of parked vehicles by zone - Lochfield EXTENSION INITIAL BEFORE 35 480 53 577 63 593 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Road Outside School Surrounding Streets Count of parked vehicles by zone - St Catherine's INITIAL EXTENSION BEFORE 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Road Outside School Surrounding Streets Count of parked vehicles by zone - St Charles' INITIAL EXTENSION BEFORE
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4.5 The vehicular movement survey also identified the number of conflicts over that week. This was identified as conflicts between ‘car and pedestrian’ or ‘car and car’ (minor precautionary breaking or changing lane) below. The statistics of the number of conflicts within the exclusion zone over a 1-week period were: School Before During End Barsail PS 73 12 11 Lochfield PS 145 21 19 St Catherine’s PS 97 20 4 St Charles PS 13 12 0 4.6 It can be seen that the occurrences fall dramatically during the restricted periods in the morning and afternoon, when the zone was put in place. However, there is no similar data to compare before or after the restricted periods. 4.7 With regards to “near misses” i.e. more serious/quicker stops to prevent collisions with vehicle or child, these were also collected during the same time period. School Before During End Barsail PS 1 1 0 Lochfield PS 2 1 0 St Catherine’s PS 2 0 0 St Charles PS 1 0 0 Hands Up Survey 4.8 Every year, Renfrewshire Council undertakes a “hands up” survey with pupils to understand the pupils travel habits from year to year. These are undertaken in September each year and look at the different modes of transport e.g. walk/cycle/scooter or skate/park & stride/car/bus or taxi. 4.9 As part of the evaluation, the hands up survey for the 4 schools was assessed to ascertain if the exclusion zones had resulted in an increase in active travel. 4.10 The results across the 3 schools improved with 1 decreasing: • Barsail PS – Active travel decreased and driving increased. • Lochfield PS - Active travel increased by 6.1% but driving also increased by 4.3%. Less Park and Stride 7.1% decrease. • St Catherine’s PS - Marked change in active travel up 17.7% and numbers taking the bus by 8.6%. Less being driven by 21.3% • St Charles PS - Overall Active Travel increased by 4.3%. Driving deceased by 8.7% and bus use increased by 6%.
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Evaluation Survey 4.11 A survey was undertaken with all partners and affected residents/parents/staff as part of the school parking exclusion zones. The survey was predominantly on-line, however, letters were issued to all residents in affected to ask they opinion on the zones that were in place. The survey ran for 4 weeks in Feb/March 2022. 4.12 There were 91 responses to the survey. • 75% of responses thought that the school exclusion zone pilot were a good idea • 76% of responses would like to see the parking exclusion zones continue. • 58% of responses disagreed that the surrounding street were less congested with car traffic. • 55% of responses held the opinion that the parking exclusion zones have worked. On-site visits from Wardens/Police Scotland 4.13 To try and assist Police Scotland, the Renfrewshire Wardens also visited the 4 schools routinely to undertake parking enforcement and assess the success/challenges with the exclusion zones. 4.14 The Wardens advised that whilst on-site, it was noted that many residents still didn’t have permits for entering/leaving the zones – it should be noted that they weren’t breaking the law at this time (they weren’t moving), however, if they had been, they could have received a fixed penalty notice. 4.15 There is a perceptible improvement when Police are on site, with regards to the restricted streets, especially when Traffic Police attend. Enforcement 4.16 As part of the pilot, Police Scotland have routinely visited all 4 schools to assess compliance. On most occasions, no enforcement has taken place with anyone noted to be accessing/egressing during the restricted times being spoken to and warned. As detailed in section 4.14, with a visible presence, people don’t normally enter the zones. 4.17 However, as part of the pilot, there have been 27 fixed penalty notices issued with the following allocation to each school: • Barsail PS – 0 • Lochfield PS – 3 • St Catherine’s PS – 5 • St Charles PS – 19
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5. Conclusions and Next Steps 5.1 The results of the evaluation of the pilot have not been conclusive and the outcomes appear to be mixed with some positives and some negatives. 5.2 The number of conflicts within the street where the zone was implemented reduced markedly. However, the pilot did not have a large impact on active travel with a lot of cars still noted within the zone or noted to be in the surrounding streets. 5.3 The active travel leaflet was well received, as were the positive communications, however, the overall enforcement was extremely challenging and resource intensive for Police Scotland. 5.4 Whilst it is noted that the School Parking Exclusion Zones will not be the full answer for all schools, there are a suite of road safety interventions that could be considered depending on the school, geography and community needed. This list is not exhaustive, but could include: • Parking Exclusion Zones • School Active Travel Plans • Park and Stride • WOW – Living Street’s Year Long Active Travel Programme • Walking Bus – Families meet and walk together on a specified route • Physical interventions e.g. planters • Wider parking enforcement and Traffic Regulation Orders around schools • Community and School Engagement Sessions 5.5 From this project, a Road Safety Officer has been recruited to lead and drive the above review and interventions. Implications of the Report 1. Financial – Depending on the work and interventions put in place around schools, there will be financial considerations that will require to be considered. 2. HR & Organisational Development - None 3. Community/Council Planning – Our Renfrewshire is safe – by introducing school parking exclusion zones, this will ensure a safer environment for children to enter and depart school. 4. Legal - None
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5. Property/Assets - None 6. Information Technology - None 7. Equality & Human Rights (a) The Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety - None 9. Procurement - N/A 10. Risk - None 11. Privacy Impact - N/A 12. COSLA Policy Position - N/A 13. Climate Risk – None. List of Background Papers a) School Parking Initiative - Communities, Housing and Planning Policy Board, 21 May 2019 b) School Parking Exclusion Zones – Communities, Housing and Planning Policy Board, 14 January 2020 c) Traffic Regulation Order – School Parking Exclusion Zones - Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board, 4 November 2020 The foregoing background papers will be retained within Communities, Housing and Planning Services for inspection by the public for the prescribed period of four years from the date of the meeting. The contact officer within the service is the Communities and Regulatory Manager. Author: Oliver Reid, Head of Communities and Public Protection Email: Oliver.reid@renfrewshire.gov.uk
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Appendix 1 – Evaluation Survey Questions Are you a parent, teacher, resident or other? School Which year group is your child in? How does your child normally travel to school? (if applicable) If your child could choose, how would they prefer to travel to school? (if applicable) If your child would prefer to walk, cycle, scoot/skate or park and stride, why would your child prefer to do so? (if applicable) If your child would prefer to park and stride, be driven, take the bus or use a taxi, why would your child prefer to do so? (if applicable) Do you think the school exclusion zone pilot is a good idea? Would you like to see the parking exclusion zones continue? Do you think the exclusion zone might change the way school staff travel to school? Please indicate how the parking exclusion zone impacted your use of the following modes for travelling to and from school What impact has the exclusion zone had on the area? The area is now safer The area now provides more space for socialising for me (and/or my children) The area is now a more inclusive and attractive place The air quality in the area has improved The exclusion zone has strengthened relationships in the local community The surrounding streets are now less congested with car traffic Is it now easier to social distance while travelling to school and back than before the parking exclusion zones? (if applicable) Is it now easier to walk, cycle or scoot to school and back than before due to the exclusion zones? (if applicable) Were you provided with the opportunity to engage in a consultation process on the exclusion zones? In your opinion, have the parking exclusion zones worked?
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Appendix 2 – St Charles PS – Active Travel Zone leaflet.