Students from five schools in the West Wight are to show Isle of Wight Council councillors the impact of a project to cut down on parents using cars to take their children to school.

Pupils at All Saints, Yarmouth, St Saviours and Weston Primary schools, and West Wight Middle School, came together to look at ways of improving health and fitness levels while also reducing the need for car journeys to school.

Through the WAYS Forward Extended Schools Manager Tracey Castle and Isle of Wight Council’s School Travel Plan Advisor Helen Stichbury, 900 children were asked how they would like to travel to lessons, with almost half saying they would like to cycle.

As a result, representatives from all schools looked at options for cycling, including establishing dedicated routes and improving road safety. The findings were backed at a public meeting and since then, a series of measures and schemes have been brought in.

These include Isle of Wight Council installing speed-reactive 20mph signs as part of its commitment to improving road safety, and the setting-up of a dedicated Cycling Club.

The West Wight Travel Group will present the success of their scheme to councillors at County Hall in Newport at 4pm on Monday 7th July.

Isle of Wight Council’s Cabinet member for Children and Young People Alan Wells said

“From all the accounts I have heard, the impact on school travel and health the West Wight Travel Group has made in the area has been very well received.

So much so in fact, I understand the model is being used in other parts of the Island. I very much look forward to seeing the presentation on Monday, and I know Isle of Wight Council will continue to help as much as it can towards the Group’s vision.”

Ten pupils from the West Wight Travel Group will give the presentation, constructed entirely on their own and in their own words as part of a innovative scheme that has involved the West Wight community.

Isle of Wight Community News @Island Pulse.