Pupils at four Sefton Primary Schools have been having their say about their local journey to school through a School Neighbourhood project run by Sefton Council and the walking, wheeling and cycling charity Sustrans.

A School Neighbourhood Project aims to identify ways to make the journey to school safer and make a more inviting walking, wheeling and cycling environment over a wider area.

Getting involved

Four schools, King’s Lander, St Elizabeth’s, All Saints, and Thomas Gray, which along with Linacre Primary are in the North Park School Neighbourhood area, are taking part. In addition, three local Community Groups are involved – YKids, Gateway Collective and Brunswick Youth and Community Centre.

Sefton and Sustrans worked with the pupils and local community groups to find out about what would make their journeys to school and around the wider area nicer, safer, more enjoyable and healthier. And as a result pupils produced  maps of what they did and didn’t like annotated with comments such as ‘Too many cars’ and ‘Too much dog muck’ but also with other more positive ones such as ‘I can have fun and play’.

Many pupils across the North Park School Neighbourhood area also confirmed they wanted to walk, wheel or cycle more when traveling to school.

Sefton Council’s project team and Sustrans are now analysing all the feedback to create a masterplan of potential schemes in line with the school community’ wishes.

Working with young people

Councillor Peter Harvey, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Cleansing and Street Scene, said:

“It is important to hear from young people on what changes they would like to see to their daily journey to and from school – from quick wins to more complex improvements.

“From Park and Stride initiatives, more bins, better street lighting, cleaner pavements and streets, road safety improvements and additional seating in parks, these are all measures that can enhance their daily lives.”

Councillor Diane Roscoe, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Schools, and Families, said:

“The good news is we have started with North Park area and Norwood, with plans to roll out the project to further school neighbourhood areas across the Borough.

“The project has given young people and community members the chance to have a direct influence on the process in creating their own safer, healthier streets and spaces.

“And improving the school neighbourhood is just the starting point for improving the wider community area. Making journeys and spaces safe for children and young people, benefits the whole community.”

Walking, wheeling, or cycling to school is good for young people’s physical and mental health, as well as benefiting the environment by reducing the number of short journeys made by car.

Work so far

Since Sefton Council and Sustrans started working with the North Park School Neighbourhood area schools in November 2024, workshops have been held with pupils, and over 590 comments and suggestions received from the wider community groups. Pupils had the chance to get creative and become junior urban designers, coming up with ideas for how their school journeys and the area around their school could be improved.

Engagement sessions were also held in the community in the Brunswick Centre, Gateway Collective and Kingsley & Co to find out about how local people move around the area, and how walking, wheeling and cycling could be made safer and easier.

Alix Gunn, Principle Urban Designer at Sustrans said:

“Children and local community groups told us what they like about the streets around their schools and in the wider area and what they would like to change. Most children told us they would really like to walk, cycle, scoot, or use a mobility aid to travel to school. But the streets do not feel safe or pleasant enough at the moment.

We are working with schools and the local community to look at how we could improve street design in the area, so more people can travel actively. Schools created their own ‘manifesto’ of what they want to change, pupils and local community groups took part in workshops to look at ways we could improve the streets for everyone. It’s a great example of local people working together to help design the changes that will benefit their community. A story map has been produced outlining our project timeline and what has happened so far.”