Southampton 'school street' made permanent

Following a successful trial period, the timed road closure of Golden Grove outside St Mary’s CE Primary School has been made permanent.

The trial is part of Southampton City Council’s School Streets project in which roads directly outside a school are temporarily closed to vehicles at drop off and pick up times; creating a pedestrian and cycle zone for a short period at the beginning and end of the school day.

Cllr Jeremy Moulton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Growth, said: "In February 2020, St Mary’s C of E Primary School became the second school in Southampton to trial road closures as part of our School Streets project. We are pleased to see the success and popularity of this scheme. Closing the road space outside schools has provided a safer environment for everyone at peak times.”

To facilitate the scheme, retractable bollards were installed on a section of Golden Grove directly outside the school. They are put in place between Monday to Friday, 8.15 to 9.00am and 2.45 to 3.30pm.

Traffic has been monitored regularly to assess the impact of the scheme. This monitoring has shown that there has been a 16% reduction in cars entering Golden Grove during the morning drop off period since the scheme was implemented, with an 11% reduction at pick up time. Furthermore, the volume of traffic on the road across all times on weekdays has reduced by 15%.

Sandra Miller, Interim Headteacher at St Mary's CE Primary School, said: "We are delighted to have the Timed Road Closure as a permanent feature outside of our school. This makes such huge difference to the safety of our pupils and families at the start and end of the school day. There are often families waiting at the gates in the morning, and some of our pupils use the traffic-free space to play before school. It feels like a much safer, friendlier and more social space than before.”

There are several trial schemes taking place at schools across the city but St Mary’s is the second – after St John’s Primary & Nursery – to be made a permanent feature.

As part of the trial, participating schools have been surveyed to gather their feedback on the schemes with 82% of adults saying they support the School Street road closure.

More information on St Mary’s School Street can be found here.

Further details of the recent School Street survey, and the project as a whole, can be found here.

Parent/Resident Perception Surveys

• Before the school street was in place 35% of people scored 9 or 10 on their feeling of intimidation by traffic on Goldent Grove. This has now reduced to 16%.

• 41% of parents and residents asked now find it extremely (10) or very (9) easy to cross Golden Grove, compared with just 9% before the school street was installed.

• When asked on a scale of 1-10 how polluted they felt the road was, 35% of people felt that it was not at all (10) or not very (9) polluted, compared to 9% pre-installation.