Chillingham Road Primary school becomes third in Newcastle to ban cars during the school run

• Report by Chris Conway

A school is set to become the third to ban cars from neighbouring roads during the school run.

The scheme is aimed at improving safety for children and reducing pollution.

From Monday 16 January, cars will no longer be allowed on two roads leading to Chillingham Road Primary, in Newcastle, between 8-9:30am and 2:30-4pm.

The school will become the city's third to join a council scheme called "School Street", which aims to protect children and improve the local environment.

"It’s primarily about keeping our children safe," headteacher Benjamin Wassall told ITV News Tyne Tees.

"We’ve had so many near misses where children have almost been mown down by a car, with either pavement parking or people mounting the curbs.

"About half the kids already walk to school and about 37% come by car so we’re just wanting to see car travel reduce and those safer, more active choices made."

Parents we spoke to during the school run on Wednesday 11 January were invariably in favour of the measure.

This reflects the experience of Grange First School in Gosforth, according to headteacher Clare Clougher.

Both Grange First and Hotspur Primary school in Heaton joined the scheme in the summer of 2022.

"We really didn’t have any opposition," said Ms Clougher.

"I think we did expect it but the parents are overwhelmingly supportive of it because their journey to school is easy.

"The residents are happy because they haven’t got people blocking their driveway."

Newcastle City Council said the scheme is designed to improve both the safety and health of children.

An expert in air quality management at Northumbria University has said the measure will help protect pupils against the dangers of pollution.

"It will certainly make a difference especially for children especially," said Professor Anil Namdeo.

"When they’re growing up, their lungs and other organs are developing.

"If you expose them to high level pollution, even medium level pollution, it can cause harm to their growth."

It was one of the biggest news stories of our time - and it's still not over. So what did Boris Johnson know about Downing Street’s notorious parties? With fresh revelations from our Number 10 sources, in their own words, listen to the inside story...