The road outside a Surbiton primary school is set to close at rush hour in a bid to make schoolchildren’s journeys to school safer.
The School Street scheme, which is a government programme to close busy roads outside schools during opening and closing hours, was approved for St Matthew’s Primary School in Langley Road.
The scheme aims to reduce traffic volume outside schools to increase road safety, lower emissions from vehicles and to encourage more children to walk to school.
St Matthew’s Primary School parent Henry Volans said: “The current state of traffic on Langley road represents a failure to offer our children a safe environment to get to and from school.
“Every morning [my son and I] see illegally parked cars blocking corners, blocking sight lines, making it difficult and dangerous to cross the road and get to school.”
Of all rush hour car trips made in London, 25% of them related to school drop-offs, according to analysis made by Transport for London.
On top of that, 40% of journeys to primary schools are made by car or van across England, according to data published by the UK government in November 2024.
The government lists increased pupil independence, enhanced social interaction and developing sustainable travel habits as benefits of the scheme, alongside other advantages listed on their website.
St Matthew’s is the 11th school in the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames to receive School Street status.
Kingston councillor Jackie Davies, representing Berrylands ward, voiced her approval of the scheme.
Davies said: “I think this one is a complete no-brainer, we should just do it.
“We have to think about the youngest people in our society and think about what the future is going to be like for them, and set patterns very early on.”
Langley Road is often used as a cut-through between the busy Ewell Road and Upper Brighton Roads.
Temporary traffic counts will take place on Langley Road to monitor how much the traffic decreases, and on nearby streets to gauge any potential rises in traffic as a result of the road closure.
Residents of the road will be exempt from the traffic ban, but will have to register their cars with the council to avoid any potential fines.
The scheme is set to last 18 months, with the road closures being reviewed six months into the programme.
The School Street Scheme for St Matthew’s Primary School was approved by a unanimous vote made at the Surbiton Neighbourhood Committee on 19 March, although there is no set start date for the road closures.
Kingston councillor Dianne White, who represents St Mark’s and Seething Wells ward, expressed her wishes to extend the School Street Scheme to secondary schools in the future.
She said: “They need to be as safe as possible as well.”
Feature image: Surbiton’s St Matthew’s Primary School. Credit: Hugh Venables via Geograph
