Walk to school initiative

2.16.00pm GMT Sat 9th Dec 2006

A £1500 cash incentive is being offered to encourage primary age children to walk to school following a Department of Health report predicting there will be a million obese children by 2010.

The Walk on Wednesday (WOW) scheme has been piloted at four Milton Keynes schools since the start of September and is to be rolled out across as many schools as possible in the New Year.

The initiative, led by Milton Keynes Council's road safety team, was trialled at Oldbrook First School, Penwith School, in Fishermead, Priory Common First School, in Bradwell Village and Eaton Mill Primary School, in Water Eaton.

The council-funded pilot scheme encourages young children and their parents to walk to school at least once a week to cut the number of cars on the 'school run' and to combat the growing trend in obesity in children - estimated 20 per cent of children in the UK are now obese or overweight.

Each child is given a monthly postcard card that is signed by a teacher when they walk to school and if completed successfully each month a different badge can be collected.

Schools are being encouraged to apply for a £1500 grant - £500 payable annually- to run the scheme over the next three years, thanks to funding from the Department of Education & Skills and Department of Transport.

Recent figures reveal that the proportion of children using the car to travel to school has doubled over the past 20 years and at rush hour(8am to 9am) 360,000 cars of the 3.6m on the road at this time are on the 'school run'.

Samantha Morris, school travel plan adviser for Milton Keynes and the South East region, said: "The project has two main objectives. The first is to reduce the amount of cars on the school run and the other is to encourage children to be more active and reduce childhood obesity. Children who walk to school also benefit from practising using their road safety skills.

"We hope to expand this scheme to many more primary schools over the next few years"

Cllr Sandra Clark, council Cabinet Member responsible for children and young people, was concerned at the rising levels of obesity in children - the number has doubled since 1982 and half of all children are predicted to be obese by 2020 if current trends continue.