School Streets: making the school run safer
Many schools across Southampton experience several safety and traffic issues at the beginning and end of each school day. To help with this the City Council has a Safer Routes to School programme which is creating routes to and spaces outside of schools at these key times so they are safe for everyone.
By creating a safer, more pleasant environment for everyone around schools it promotes active travel to school by walking, wheeling and cycling, which in turn, helps to reduce congestion and pollution in the area.
One way we are doing this is by implementing School Streets.
What are School Streets?
A School Street sees a road directly outside or surrounding a school at key times temporarily limited to traffic creating a predominately pedestrian and cycle zone.
The benefits of a School Street include:
- Increasing walking, wheeling and cycling for pupils and parents,
- Reduction in traffic speed, congestion and pollution around schools providing safer routes to children and parents getting to school,
- Improvements in levels of childhood activity and reducing obesity
Restricting and removing traffic and parents’ vehicles from outside schools at drop off and pick up times provides a much safer environment for everyone at peak times and helps those who are able to walk, cycle or wheel to school and through the School Street zone.
Where are the School Streets?
There are 20 permanent School Streets in Southampton.
The majority of our School Streets have operational timings of 08:00 – 09:30 and 14:15 – 15:45. These timings cover the start and finish times of all infant, junior, primary and secondary schools in the city. In addition to the timings of most pre-schools, breakfast clubs and some afterschool clubs. The timings also prevent parents/carers parking within the School Street zone before the end of the school day.
Permanent School Streets schemes in Southampton:
The following School Street schemes operate between the hours of 08:00 to 09:30 and 14:15 to 15:45.
- Bassett Green Primary - Honeysuckle Road
- Bitterne C of E - Brownlow Avenue
- Bitterne Park Secondary – Dimond Road
- Cantell School - Violet Road
- Foundry Lane Primary – English Road
- Freemantle CE Community Academy – Mansion Road
- Hightown Primary CE – Tunstall Road
- Mansbridge Primary - Octavia Road
- Mansel Park Primary - Porlock Road
- Moorlands Primary – Kesteven Way
- Regents Park Community College - Richville Road
- Shirley Infant School - Wilton Road
- Shirley Junior School - Bellemoor Road
- Shirley Warren Primary - Warren Crescent
- St Mark’s CE Primary - Stafford Road North
- St Monica Primary School – St Monica Road
- Valentine Primary - Valentine Avenue
- Wordsworth Primary - Victor Street
These School Streets are in operation from 08:15 to 09:00 and 14:45 to 15:30 due to the folding bollards being used at these sites:
- St John’s Primary – French Street
- St Mary’s CE Primary – Golden Grove
How do School Streets work?
The restrictions, implemented through a legal Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO), mean that most vehicles, including those driven by parents/carers at the schools, are not able to drive into the roads covered by the restriction.
There are however a number of permitted and authorised vehicles that are able to access the School Street when the restriction is in operation.
Our School Streets all operate under permit scheme and if you live on a street affect you will need to apply for a valid permit to drive through the School Street during the restrictions advertised.
The permitted vehicles are:
- Residents who live within the School Street. The vehicle must be registered or insured at an address within the School Street.
- Authorised school staff and school support staff requiring access to a school car park or Residents’ Parking Zone (RPZ) within a School Street, for which they hold a valid permit, and school service vehicles (e.g. minibuses or coaches hired by the school), may be eligible for a School Street permit. Applications may be made only by the relevant school. School support staff includes people such as after-school club staff, school nurses, agency staff and specialist teachers who require access to the school car park during School Street hours.
- School Travel Service transport contracted by a Local Authority that is picking up or dropping off a pupil at a property within the School Street or servicing the affected school.
- Staff working at businesses within the School Street. The business must provide evidence of the person working at the business.
- Medical practitioners, district nurses and support workers attending a property within the School Street. This includes Dial-a-ride or a hospital/patient transportation vehicle that is collecting or dropping off a resident at an address within the School Street.
- Carers - both NHS/GP registered carers and unpaid carers requiring access to a property within the School Street providing suitable evidence of a duty of medical care is required. This could be in the form of a letter from the resident’s GP or a medical professional. A carer is anyone, including children and adults who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction and cannot cope without their support.
- Blue Badge holders who provide proof they require access to the street during the specified times. A permit will not be issued for transit through a School Street by a Blue Badge holder. Residents living within a School Street who hold a Blue Badge and are being transported to or from their property, in a vehicle not registered to them, may apply for a permit for the transporting vehicle. For parents/carers with a Blue Badge or a child with a Blue Badge, the Council will first work with the school to ascertain whether another entrance can be used that doesn’t require a School Streets permit.
- Vehicles used by the Universal Postal Services Provider defined in the Postal Services Act 2011 to collect and deliver postal packets (letters and parcels) from within the School Street. The current and only Universal Postal Services Provider is Royal Mail.
- Local buses operating registered public bus routes through the School Street and buses on contracted school/college routes where access to the School Street is required for the undertaking of that service.
Further information can be found in our School Streets Permits and Access Guidance document.
Permits to access a School Street (with camera enforcement) can be applied for here.
Schools Streets operate either just with signage, or with camera enforcement or using a stewarded operation.
All Southampton’s School Streets have signs at the entrances to the restricted area detailing the times of the School Street. Examples are below.
A stewarded operation involves stewards acting on behalf of the school using concertina barriers and supporting signage to highlight the School Street restriction to road users, and to maintain access to those authorised and permitted to drive into the School Street. If you are authorised or permitted access to a School Street with a stewarded operation, please follow the directions of the stewards and be prepared to drive at walking pace to your destination.
Two of our School Streets operate on Bus Gate TROs but have the same restrictions on vehicles and same times. These are at Cantell School on Violet Road and Honeysuckle Road at Bassett Green School. Both are camera enforced.
Southampton City Council has the powers to enforce some moving traffic offences. When a School Street moves to camera enforcement, drivers of permitted vehicles will be invited to apply for a permit. Permits will not be physical and will be issued upon the satisfactory provision of evidence for an application.
Images of Pedestrian and Cycle Only Zone signage used for School Streets and bus only/bus gate signage used for School Streets
Latest news
September 2025
To secure the long term viability and effectiveness of the School Street at Shirley Warren School, camera enforcement will begin on Wednesday 3 September 2025.
June 2025
To improve safety for children attending Bassett Green Primary School, camera enforcement of the School Street on Honeysuckle Road will begin on Monday 30 June 2025.
February 2025
Following consultation, four of the sites on the School Streets Experimental Traffic Regulation Order that was implemented in January 2024, have been made permanent. These four sites are located on:
- Brownlow Avenue – Bitterne C of E Primary
- Dimond Road – Bitterne Park School
- English Road – Foundry Lane Primary
- Kesteven Way – Moorlands Primary School
November 2024
Through our Safer Routes to School Programme, funded by Active Travel Fund 4, we have delivered pedestrian and cycle improvements and a School Street on Honeysuckle Road outside of Bassett Green Primary School. This School Street operates under a Bus Only Street/Bus Gate restriction. Click here for more details.
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