Springfield Primary School in Tilehurst gets school street safety plan

An experimental road scheme is to be introduced around a Tilehurst school - which will prevent traffic from using it.

And anyone who does will get fined.

It is a temporary restriction on motorised traffic at school drop-off and pick-up times in term time only, on streets outside Springfield Primary School in Barton Road.

The aim is to cut down on traffic and parking pressures outside schools, encourage walking and cycling to school and make the streets outside schools safer at the start and end of the day.

West Berkshire Council surveyed staff, parents and pupils at the school about the scheme to help identify what stops people walking, scooting, or cycling to school, and what would help them to do so.

Parents said they didn't because in some cases, they were on their way to work, and felt the route was not safe, and there were not enough parent shelters.

Staff said they had too much to carry, that there was no staff cycle storage and they live too far away.

But the best one was from a pupil who said they didn't walk or cycle “because I am not ready in the morning, we end up driving to school instead of walking”.

Access to the school via Barton Road will be restricted for one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. No-one can enter or exit unless their vehicle is registered with the council parking team or they have a valid Blue Badge.

It will start at the beginning of June.

Feedback will be collected for six to nine months, after which the council will review the scheme to see whether it's working and make a decision as to whether to make changes to the scheme or make it permanent.