06th July 2020

Open letter to all parents from Simon O’Brien, Liverpool City Region Cycling and Walking Commissioner.

Dear parents and guardians,

As we thankfully emerge from the terrible Coronavirus pandemic I would like to personally ask you to help your school keep the children safe and socially distance by either doing the school run on foot or by bike. The areas outside school gates will be very difficult to manage and heavy traffic will make it even harder to keep our kids safe. As we all know, one of the few positives that came from lockdown was the quiet streets on our doorsteps. We took to walking and cycling for our daily exercise or just to escape the inside of our homes and enjoy the clean air of our suddenly peaceful neighbourhoods. Walking or riding about while spending time with our children has been a joy but we are all desperate to get their education fired up again. Before that happens now is the time to find an alternative way, other than driving, to your school. Through the park, down the quiet back roads or along the local high street. Work out how long it takes to do the drop off and pick up without the car. Why not go the whole hog and carry on your commute by bike? You may be surprised at how easy and quick it is when you factor in rush hour traffic, not to mention the health benefits of being active. If this is simply not possible then please, please, add ten minutes to the journey and park 200 metres from school, just a 5 minute walk each way to and from the car. This will mean everyone can safely socially distance in the streets as the children are dropped off and collected. I have made a short video outside my daughter’s primary school to highlight the issues which can be viewed here:

https://twitter.com/lpoolcouncil/status/1274741466347208705

Let’s keep something good going as normality thankfully returns. Let’s make the new normal better with clean air outside our school gates whilst helping our schools to keep our children socially distanced and safe.

Thank you,

Simon