Dulwich families with young children urge residents not to drive: ‘It’s cleaner, healthier and it’s fun’

By Toby Porter

Children, parents and grandparents showed their support for measures to make walking and cycling safer – in opposition to one by pensioners hours later.

Children from schools in Dulwich celebrated a road scheme, the Low Traffic Neighbourhood, to recognise how much safer their journey to school is, as well as the benefits to their health.

A string of measures have been introduced to stop cars driving down residential roads – but some residents have protested against it, in a new group called the Dulwich Alliance.

Members of another, Age Speaks, staged a protest on Saturday about the measures.

But Kimberly Mears, a mother of two boys, both studying at Dulwich Hamlet Junior School in Dulwich Village, said: “Since the scheme started my eight-year-old son hasn’t had to use his asthma inhaler at all at school.

“Before that he used it consistently, at least two or three times a week. Our walk to school was 1km along a busy road, and now it is almost traffic- free.

“Low traffic makes the pavements safer for other users too.

“Now we can use the roads and pavements aren’t  full  of  children  riding  scooters  and  bikes, which made it dangerous for other pedestrians.

“If you haven’t experienced the negative aspects of high traffic, like asthma or COPD, giving up driving and cycling instead can feel like a hard swap.

But all children should have the same access to clean air, so we need a network of these low-traffic corridors that enable cycling and walking everywhere.”

The reduction in traffic has also meant parents are less fearful for their children’s safety.

“We have always walked or cycled to school,” said Emily Farrington, mother of Zoe, eight, and Ellen, six, pupils at Harris Primary Academy School in Lordship Lane, East Dulwich.

“But crossing all the roads was really difficult, having to negotiate traffic from every direction. Now  we can cycle on the road.

Our journeys are much quicker. It makes walking and cycling the speediest option. Not only that – it’s fun”

Kate Hampson and her two children, Alex, six and Isabelle, four are also fans.

She said: “We used to get the train from East Dulwich railway station to Tulse Hill and walk to Oakfield Preparatory School, 20 minutes along the South Circular Road in Thurlow Park Road.

“It was an unpleasant journey. My children were very young and I was worried about road safety, as well as the effects of air pollution.

“We hop on our bikes and cycle most days.

“It’s a beautiful route, through Greendale, down Calton Avenue, Dulwich Village, and through Belair Park. We see a family of fox cubs sunning themselves in Greendale and it feels like the countryside.

“Alex cycles on the road, as the entire route is either traffic-free or on quieter roads. It takes 15 minutes, compared to 25 minutes in the car or 30 by bus or train.”

Research by King’s College London (KCL) show that children on the school run are exposed to five times the amount of air pollution than any other time of day.

This is because it coincides with the busiest times for traffic. Other research in South London by KCL links a huge rise in GP visits for children with asthma to spikes in air pollution, particularly that from diesel vehicles.