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Active travel schemes, and other local efforts to tackle air pollution, must benefit the communities...

Recommendation
Active travel schemes, and other local efforts to tackle air pollution, must benefit the communities most affected by air pollution, and focus on changing the behaviour of those who contribute most to the problem. They must also avoid undermining public transport. We recognise the efforts of many schools, parents and local councils to improve the air around schools and encourage active travel through introducing school streets. These should also be supported by reducing parking outside schools and measures to reduce idling and 20mph speed limits. It is likely that more schools would benefit from them as well as from more and better air quality monitoring to help them identify when air pollution is a problem. Where appropriate, temporary school streets introduced during the pandemic should be made permanent. The Government should be ambitious about increasing the number of school streets by working with local authorities, schools and civil society groups to develop a strategy to put them in place for every school where one would be appropriate, including measures to reduce parking and idling outside schools and the introduction of 20mph speed limits. This should be supported by an effective system of monitoring to help identify local exceedances of legal limits.
Paragraph Reference
116
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government Not Addressed
The Active Travel Fund has encouraged local authorities to look at how people can use their streets in other ways to than being simply vessels for cars. Local authorities have been able to use Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders to introduce 20mph zones, install raised tables and/or dropped kerbs at crossings or side roads to introduce low traffic neighbourhoods and school streets. A number of authorities are making their schemes permanent following successful trials, using tranche 2 funding. On 28 July 2020, the Government announced its plans to implement the moving traffic enforcement powers in Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004. This will enable those local authorities outside London with civil parking enforcement powers to apply to the Secretary of State to take responsibility for enforcement of moving traffic offences from the police. This would include moving traffic contraventions such as School Streets. The Department has started discussions with key stakeholders on some of the complexities involved and work is underway on drafting regulations and statutory guidance. Implementation will require a number of statutory instruments to be made covering matters such as enforcement, level of penalties, approved devices, adjudication, representations and appeals. However, it is not possible at this stage to say when in 2021 the powers will be available to local authorities. The Department for Transport/ Government is developing a bold and ambitious Transport Decarbonisation Plan to achieve net zero emissions across all modes of transport, which we expect to publish in Spring 2021. It will set out a credible and ambitious pathway to delivering transport’s contribution to carbon budgets and meet net zero by 2050.