Improving the safety of children arriving at and leaving their school is behind a new ‘safe streets-pilot' scheme which has been launched at Lansdowne Primary School today.
Five schools have been chosen to take part in the pilot scheme and each of the schemes will be monitored over an 18-month period with a view to rolling out the scheme city wide.
As part of the scheme, roads leading to the schools will be closed to non-residents at the start and end of the school day - between 8.30am and 9.15am in the morning and 2.45pm and 3.45pm in the afternoon - meaning that there will be no road closures at weekends, during school holidays or on school inset days.
People living on the streets will continue to have normal access to their homes. Blue Badge holders will also be unaffected by the closures.
The five schools taking part in the pilot scheme, and the roads being closed, are:
- Ysgol Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd - (Davis's Terrace and Glan-Y-Nant Terrace)
- Ysgol Pencaerau Primary School - (Cyntwell Avenue)
- Ysgol Peter Lea Primary School - (Carter Place)
- Llandaff Church in Wales - (Hendre Close)
- Landsdowne Primary School - (Norfolk Street.)
Cllr Caro Wild, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport is behind the scheme as part of the Council's ongoing commitment to improve air quality in the Welsh Capital.
Cllr Wild said: "Yesterday the Council launched an ambitious transport vision for the next 10 years, outlining a number of projects which will be delivered to reduce congestion, improve air quality andcombat the ongoing problems of climate change.
"Today we are launching this pilot scheme which not will not only improve the safety of children gettingto and from schoolbut will also stop parents blocking access to the school through inconsiderate parking - often idling their engines - which contributes to the air pollution that their children are breathing in. There is no doubt thatpollution from motorvehicles is one of the biggest contributing factors to poor air quality in Cardiff.
"The schools that have been chosen for this pilot are not on through routes, so they are relatively easy to implement. We would like to roll out the scheme to all schools in Cardiff, so this is why we are carrying out a pilot so we can identify potential issues and iron out any problems that do arise."
All of the streets which lead to the schools which are taking part in the pilot scheme will be enforced using a static camera and if parents ignore the new scheme and drive down the closed roads to drop off their children, they will be issued a penalty charge notice of £70 which is reduced to £35 if the payment is made within 21 days.
The enforcement began on January 6, and those who have breached the scheme and have driven down closed roads have received a warning letter and this will continue until January 18. After January 18, penalty charge notices will be issued.
As the access road for Ysgol Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd is shared with Whitchurch High School (Lower), the parents of pupils at Whitchurch High School (Lower) have been written to, to advise them that they will only be able to access the school via the Manor Way entrance, as Glan-Y-Nant Terrace will be closed to parents and will be enforced. This will mean that parents accessing Whitchurch High School (Lower) will no longer be able to do a U-turn to drop off their children on Glan-Y-Nant Terrace.