School Streets

Q. I’m a Blue Badge holder, will I be able to enter the School Street by car during the controlled times?

Yes, if you or a dependent are a Blue Badge holder who needs vehicle access to a property within a School Street zone, including the school.

To do this you will need to apply to the council for an exemption for the vehicle you will be travelling in. Residents within the zone are issued with a scheme-specific code to enter on our online registration system. Blue Badge holders will also need this.  Please call the council’s Contact Centre on 020 8547 5000 or email schoolstreets@kingston.gov.uk.

To register, please visit the permanent school streets page or trial school street scheme page that you would like to hold the exemption for. You will find the form under these links. To register, you will need to provide proof of where you live and where your vehicle is registered and your blue badge number.

Q. I have an injury. Can I claim temporary exemption?

Yes, you can. Please call us on 0208 547 5000 or email schoolstreets@kingston.gov.uk.  Evidence will be required such as emails or letters from a hospital or GP.

Q. I'm a parent or carer, can I enter the School Street zone?

Most parents or carers dropping children at school will not be able to drive into the School Street zone. You can only drive in if you or your child is a Blue Badge holder.

Q. I have a healthcare or social care need and use services that will need to enter the School Street. Can this still happen?

Yes. The School Street scheme should not affect how you receive your care and therefore the help provided to you is exempt from the scheme. There are a number of ways to register an associated vehicle-

Your health care provider is welcome to email schoolstreets@kingston.gov.uk and register their vehicle/s by providing:

• Patient’s name
• Address including the postcode
• Care provider’s name
• Registration number for care provider’s vehicle

If you live within the scheme area and need help from family and friends with support to attend medical appointments, they are welcome to register their vehicles and will be exempt from the scheme.

If you do not live within the scheme area and have a temporary injury that means you are reliant on using a vehicle, you can be temporarily given exemption.

To apply for exemption, please visit the School Streets webpage where you will also find what information you will need to provide. You can also email us at schoolstreets@kingston.gov.uk or call 020 8547 5000 to apply for exemption - a member of the Sustainable Transport team will call you back. You will need to be able to provide the reason for your exemption, any evidence, as well as the registration number of your vehicle.

Q. How long will the scheme last?

Our School Streets generally begin their life as a Experimental Traffic Management Order (ETMO) which runs for a minimum 6 months and lasts up to 18 months. There is a consultation and engagement period which alongside the ETMO. Data and feedback will be collected and a proposal will be drafted for the Neighbourhood Committee, who will make a decision on the future of the scheme (for example, whether to make it permanent, remove or modify it).

Q. Why was my neighbour informed before the scheme started?

As detailed above, the Experimental Traffic Management Order (ETMO) runs for up to 18 months alongside a period of public engagement on the scheme. We may make sure that residents who would be immediately affected are made aware of the scheme before implementation.

Q. Won't the scheme push parking issues elsewhere

Part of the aim of introducing School Streets is to encourage more people to travel sustainably. Where possible, we will work to try and find alternative locations for parents to park and stride from, without causing problems for residents of nearby streets. We carefully monitor the local roads during a trial to see whether there is any parking displacement and, if it happens, we look to find a solution.

Q. Were other options explored to improve the traffic problem and safety outside the school before the introduction of the School Street?

Schools chosen to become School Streets have already tried other means of improving the experience of children and their families travelling to the school gates, including raising awareness and providing training. 
Other traffic management options, like one-way systems or extensive parking restrictions, may have also been considered. To introduce such controls and/or physical barriers on a permanent basis may be more restrictive for residents living in the affected streets. It would also not discourage parking on school zig zag markings.
Part of the selection criteria to become a School Street is that schools must have in place, or be working towards , a Transport for London STARS accreditation and intend to do hands up surveys in the current school year or to have achieved a STARS accreditation.

The school streets project provides an opportunity to trial a new way of addressing concerns raised around school parking and congestion, whilst encouraging alternative, sustainable forms of travel to school.

Q. What will happen with deliveries to my property?

Deliveries will need to happen outside of the zone’s controlled times, meaning deliveries should not occur during the school street operating hours (Please check permanent school street pages for the timings of controls).

When booking your delivery please inform the delivery company of the restrictions in place.

Q. What happens if I have a courtesy car or have to use another car?

You will need to let us know by applying for exemption. You can do this by email schoolstreets@kingston.gov.uk or by calling 020 8547 5000 and a member of the team will call you back. Please have your evidence (for example, the rental agreement or lease/insurance paperwork) for the vehicle.

Q. How are the controlled times determined?

The timings are determined through working with the school and monitoring to determine the peak times when vehicles arrive and leave. Whilst the scheme is in operation, we will continue to monitor to determine whether the timings remain appropriate.

Q. Who will enforce the controls?

A vehicle entering the zone without exemption or parking on school keep-clear marking during controlled times may receive a penalty charge notice (PCN) via an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera. Parking contraventions are enforced by civil enforcement officers.

Q. My property is not within the School Street, but there is someone parking across my driveway. What can be done about this?

The council and its parking enforcement provider, NSL, are now offering a service for residents and businesses who find their driveway is obstructed by a vehicle. To report an offence, you can call the council's parking enforcement team on 0330 135 8952, from 7am - 10pm (Monday to Saturday) or 10.30am - 10pm (Sundays and bank holidays).

When calling, you will be required to provide:

• Your name/company name
• Your address
• Your telephone number
• Details of the vehicle obstructing your driveway

This is so we can verify that it is the owner / tenant of the house that is requesting enforcement action.

Once this information has been received, we will arrange for a Civil Enforcement Officer to visit the location and carry out appropriate enforcement. Depending upon location and resource, we hope to respond within 15 minutes.

Please note that we do not remove vehicles that have parked adjacent to a driveway and the Civil Enforcement Officer attending will only be able to issue a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

Please also note that the above telephone number is provided for the sole purpose of reporting vehicles blocking our residents driveways and cannot be used to report any other kind of parking contravention.

Q. Why is the council trying to reduce the number of parents driving to school?

We want all parents / carers to consider whether they can use alternative, more sustainable modes of transport to bring children to school. The scheme encourages children and their families to walk, cycle or scoot to the school gates. Parents/carers who feel they need to drive will need to park nearby and walk the last part of their journey.

At many schools, walking, cycling or scooting to school is already the preferred way to travel for most students and their families / carers. Initial monitoring of potential School Street areas has shown that a significant number of the vehicles using the roads around schools are in fact using the streets as a shortcut on their journey, rather than to drop off children at school. Evidence on how London School Streets have created reductions in traffic around schools and a host of benefits, such as increased levels of walking and cycling are provided on TfL’s website. As of July 2024, there are almost 700 School Streets in operation across the capital.