SCHOOL RUN

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Parents could need permits to drive their kids to school under a proposal to curb obesity. Schools would issue only a limited number, to encourage more youngsters to walk or cycle. The idea comes from Dr Tim Crayford, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health. He also said schools should consider banning pupils from leaving during their lunch break, to stop them buying fast food and suggested that lessons in healthy eating should be compulsory for children as young as five. Dr Crayford, who is also director of public health at Croydon Primary Care Trust, said a permit scheme could be part of the homeschool agreements most parents sign when their children are admitted to a school. Decisions on granting permits would take into account how far away a child lived but he admitted schools could not be forced to adopt a permit scheme. (Source: Mail on Sunday, May/07)

Almost a third of all children in Derby are taken to school each day by car, according to the results of a travel audit. The census involved 38,000 primary and secondary school children from the city's 143 schools. The results show that 12,200 city pupils get to school by car. The audit was carried out to give members of the city council's Road Safety and TravelWise team a clearer picture of how pupils get to school. The aim is to try to get parents and their children to think of alternative ways of reaching school, such as walking, cycling or catching the bus, to cut traffic congestion and pollution. The council is trying to encourage schools to adopt travel plans, such as walking initiatives, car sharing and bus hire.

The audit also revealed that 60%, 22,800, pupils walk to school each day. Just 1% (380) of children cycle to school each day, although 31%, almost 12,000, said they would like to. The numbers of children using cars to get to school in Derby is the same as a representative sample of pupils from 109 schools across the country. In other areas, more pupils use cycles (2%) but fewer walk (43%) than in Derby. Across the UK, 20% use the bus, compared to 4% (1,520) in Derby. Matthew Deakin, from the road safety unit, said the survey had revealed a worrying number of car journeys being made to take youngsters to school.

"We want to ensure that parents think carefully about how their children get to school because the car figures are quite shocking," he said. "If just 10 per cent decided not to use the car, or to car-share, it would reduce the number of journeys each day by more than 1,000." David Cooper, head teacher at Ravensdale Junior School, Mickleover, said that car congestion outside his school was worse than ever. He said, "I'm hoping we can adopt a travel plan to take cars away from this area before there are serious accidents." Parents are largely responsible for setting up and running school travel plans.