Annalise Johns introduced the report.

In 2019, the London Mayor launched grants to help remove hazards from children school runs and Merton were one of two boroughs to secure three £30,000 grants.

The GLA School Superzone represented a 400m radius around a school. Merton’s three superzone schools were Merton Abbey, Abbotsbury Primary and St Marks Primary. It was important to use the funding within areas that may have missed out on resources made available within other areas.

The risks established for each school were as follows:

·       St Marks: Street drinking and mugging.

·       Abbotsbury Primary: Agoraphobia and car dominated threats to children’s school run.

·       Merton Abbey Primary: Air pollution and obesogenic environment

The aim for Merton Abbey Primary was to avoid collision for children who were getting out of cars and to address the high air pollution. Most of the funds acquired was used to appoint an Active Travel Coordinator. All children in school years 3-6 were given cycle training and the Active Travel Coordinator established a Walking Bus for students who lived within 5 minutes of the school.

Abbotsbury Primary highlighted an increase in agoraphobia since the pandemic as well as concern for safety of the pupils travelling to school.

Cars were illegally parked on the footway which obscured the view of drivers from being able to see a child crossing the road.

In June 2023, they met with year 5 and 6 students who wrote to the Council and gave them the opportunity to provide improvement ideas.

The Highways Team planned to build a wider and longer refuge island, with works planned to start in three weeks.

As the desired changes would cost approximately £150,000, two further bids were made to the Road Safety Trust for approximately £100,000.

For St Marks Primary School, in January 2023, a walkthrough meeting led by the headteacher took place with the Rest Sleeping Officer, Substance Misuse Officer, Antisocial Behaviour Officer, Parks and Highways, Metropolitan Police, Residents and the Manager of the old Morrisons parking lot. They have since formulated a Street Drinking Task and Finishing group led by Community Safety.

CCTV was installed and a patrolling system was adapted which brought together the Antisocial Behaviour Team and Kingdom. This was paid for by Community Safety, Metropolitan Police and Substance Misuse colleagues. Within three months the headteacher reported no antisocial behaviour and so the CCTV was subsequently moved.

The agriculturalist trimmed back much of the vegetation which meant individuals could see where they were, there was nowhere for people to hide and nowhere to hide knives. Lighting in the area will also be fixed.

In response to questions, the following was stated:

·       The London Mayor had useful data on ULEZ and its impact on children’s asthma. A takeaway from the Merton Abbey pilot was that people did not want to get rid of their cars. To make changes for children’s health, you had to remove the threat of vehicle use around children. A separate asthma pilot was being worked on that involved several schools.

·       The Active Travel Coordinators post expired after six months but the roles which were carried out still existed, such as cycle training which was free to all schools. When you created roads that provided the perception of balanced use, you invited people locally to walk and cycle which had a long term positive impact.

·       When encouraging children to cycle, they were required to wear helmets. Initially, students practiced on the school grounds before graduating, which allowed them to go on to public roads. All bikes purchased for schools included cycle helmets as well as security lights, locks and other essentials.

·       The rounds for selecting schools were now closed. The three chosen schools fitted the criteria of deprivation and there was an established relationship with the head teachers. All schools were written too but there was a lack of engagement from most. There were however other cost effective interventions that schools could take to address concerns such as parklets, cycle parking, benches and planting of trees which helped with air pollution.

RESOLVED: That the Board noted the report