The Education & Inspections Act 2006 places new duties on local authorities in relation to home to school travel. The Act has major implications for the provision of school transport and is intended to support the choice and flexibility of educational provision.

There are four main elements to the duty:

• An assessment of the travel and transport needs of children and young people
• An audit of the sustainable travel and transport infrastructure that may be used when travelling to, form or between schools/institutions
• A strategy to develop the infrastructure so that the travel and transport needs of children and young people are better catered for
• The promotion of sustainable travel and transport modes to, from and between schools and other institutions.

The Act defines sustainable modes of travel as ‘those that the local authority considers may improve the physical well-being of those who use them, the environmental well-being of all or part of the local authority’s area or a combination of the two.’

Swindon Borough Council already actively promotes walking, cycling and public transport for the school journey and works closely with schools to develop school travel plans. Following the introduction of ‘mode of travel’ as a question on the School Census in January 2007, much more is known about where and how children and young people travel on their journey to school, and school travel plans identify how they would prefer to travel. This information gives us a clearer picture of the travel and transport needs of children and young people.

We are also looking at all the facilities and support that are available for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users at schools across the Borough, and the Sustainable School Travel Strategy will set out ways that we can develop the infrastructure to help people to cut their car-use for journeys to and from school. This will include things such as footpaths, cycle paths, bus services, safe crossing places, walking buses, cycle storage etc.

Swindon Borough Council's Travel To School Strategy Progress & Development document.is available below as a pdf file for download.

Travel To School Strategy Progress & Development Document