School’s stages Environmental Carnival in protest of town hall’s car ban refusal

EXCLUSIVE BY TOBY PORTER and MAHA KHAN
toby@slpmedia.co.uk

A school is staging a special Environment Carnival in protest at town hall chiefs’ refusal to ban cars from its street.

Parents at Archbishop Sumner Primary in Kennington have been hit by an 80 per cent increase in traffic – and sometimes 112 per cent – since vehicles were banned at a string of nearby schools.

But the others are in Southwark – while it is Lambeth which will not block petrol users from Reedworth Street, which has three schools – Archbishop Sumner, the former Olive School site and Hurley pre-school nursery.

Lambeth did not act in co-ordination with Southwark’s road closures and now satnavs direct traffic down that road.

They say that has turned the Church of England school’s street into a rat run for thousands of cars a day.

Campaigners say they are being hit by a “fume curtain” which has come down as a result of the different town hall policies – and it is their children, aged three-11, who are suffering.

Families at Archbishop Sumner, which is in the congestion zone and contained within busy Kennington Road and Kennington Lane and near Elephant and Castle, are staging the carnival to “reclaim the street” from 2pm.

Children will dress up in costumes which highlight pollution and to make a stand against car ownership, the planet and plastics.

Parents hope it will be “fun and colourful, celebrating our community’s rich diversity and pressing issues facing our world and lungs.”

Mum Faye Angel said: “So now we have an increase of 80 per cent traffic passing the school.

This has raised the toxic fume levels and particulates beside the school, next to the playground as well as making the roads insanely dangerous to cross, especially at peak rush hour – 9am and 3.30pm, when we have seen a huge increase in heavy use vehicles.

“As local residents and parents we are terrified of the implications to the children’s health and safety.

“We totally support the benefit to the neighbouring street, but we’ve already had an accident with a bin lorry turning into the street with a motorbike, and the whole neighbourhood is working together with the schools, as many kids walk and cycle along the former quieter route.

“Drivers cut through past the three schools. This has caused a huge increase in harmful particulates and fumes at the school as well as making the road dangerous at drop-off and pick up – putting more than 400 children’s lives at risk daily.

“The children have had enough and are taking a stand. Their Environmental Carnival will highlight the issues facing their generation.

Climate change, plastic mountains, car pollution and the effects of the rat run outside their school.”

Resident Paul Yaghmourian conducted a survey of traffic levels before and after the closure of Dante Road, 200 metres away, in 2018 and how it affected the school, whose site touches Gilbert Road.

He said: “It had a dramatic knock-on effect on traffic levels in Gilbert Road.” Charlie Holland, who trains schoolchildren to ride bikes on safe roads, said: “Over the years, Lambeth has made streets calm and quiet and safe for children.

He said the 2011 census showed two-thirds of residents do not own a car and the remainder were not regular drivers.

“The question is why not this one?
“There is strong community support.
“Other neighbourhoods oppose a ban – but not this one.
“There is low car ownership in the area.
“All candidates in the borough elections last year supported a petrol ban.

“There has been a proven increase in traffic because of the other closures. “And imposing a ban would be in line with the council’s own policy.

“We should just be directing people – and it is mostly commercial vehicles travelling from Westminster towards the Walworth Road – to use A roads.

The council says a ban would inconvenience local people. But there are very few car owners in the area.”

The council’s own figures found 1,053 vehicles travelling eastwards along the road a day and 583 travelling west.

A council spokesman said: “We can only improve Lambeth’s air quality by working together to play our part, so I welcome Archbishop Summer Primary School’s initiative, and we will work with parents and the school to address their concerns.

“The council are well underway implementing various measures, including installing green screens at primary schools in our most polluted areas and piloting a series of road closures around primary schools during drop off and pick up times.

“We are clear that we need residents to travel more often by public transport, on foot and by bike, businesses need to use clean transport for deliveries and invest in energy-efficient buildings, and as a council we need to lead by example, reducing our own carbon-footprint and helping others to do the same.”