School streets approved for five primary schools in Oxford and Didcot

Five primary schools in Oxford and Didcot will have their school streets programme made permanent.

School streets encourage safe and active journeys to school with road restrictions around school start and finish times The decision was made at an Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member meeting on 9 October 2025.

The schools are:

•  St Mary and St John CE primary school in east Oxford,

• New Hinksey CE primary school in south Oxford,

• Tyndale primary free school in Cowley,

• Sandhills community primary school in Headington,

• Manor primary school in Didcot

Councillor Andrew Gant, Cabinet Member for Transport Management, said:  “I am extremely proud of the way these schools and their neighbourhoods have embraced their school streets and the opportunities reduced traffic brings, including support from local groups to create park and stride spaces where parents living further away can swap ten minutes finding a spot to park for a short walk through the school street and chance to socialise with school friends and other families.

“School streets create a safer and welcoming environment where children can walk, wheel or cycle to school with their parents or carers, and a quieter space at school start and finish times where residents can benefit from quiet streets without congestion and parking impacts from the school run.

"Nor do the benefits end there: children who travel sustainably to school have better educational outcomes, better physical and mental health, and learn vital skills which will help develop resilience and independence as they grow and explore their community and neighbourhood.”

The schools have been trialling their school streets using ANPR cameras under an experimental traffic regulation order since September 2024, and before this were trialling the school streets concept with volunteers operating pop-up gates at school start and finish times to discourage motor traffic from entering close to the school gates.

The aim is to reduce traffic and create a safer environment for children, parents, and teachers to walk or cycle to school.

The ANPR cameras will operate only during set school drop-off and pick-up times, on school days only and covering only the entry point. Residents and business owners in the school street, and dependent on the school street for access, are exempt from its restrictions. Other exemptions also apply including emergency vehicles, blue badge holders, certain service vehicles and carers.

Notes to editors

• More information about school streets:
  • Report to cabinet (p3).
  • Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure plan.
  • School streets (including details of existing school street locations and operating times, and exemptions).
• ANPR cameras are triggered by vehicles (not people) entering a set trigger area – in which case they photograph the vehicle’s licence/ registration plate details, and an automatic notice is issued if that registration is not on the school street’s exempted list. They do not record continuously.
• School streets are a part of the vision set out in Oxfordshire County Council’s Local Transport and Connectivity Plan to deliver a net-zero Oxfordshire transport and travel system that enables the county to thrive while protecting the environment and making Oxfordshire a better place to live for all residents.
• Four primary schools in the county previously trialled their phase one school streets with the support of Oxfordshire County Council under the UK government’s active travel initiative since 2021. Larkrise, St Ebbe’s and Windmill schools in Oxford and St Nicolas school in Abingdon were the first schools in the county to successfully implement permanent school streets. They trialled volunteer-led pop-up gates before progressing to ANPR use.
• Secondary images show children and parents volunteering for the Manor School, Didcot school street trial.

Oxfordshire County Council is currently seeking people’s views on proposals to trial a further phase (phase three) of school streets – at Harriers Banbury Academy, Edith Moorhouse primary school and St Joseph's Catholic primary school in Carterton, and Willowcroft community primary school and St Birinus boys school in Didcot. This includes a proposal to extend the phase 2 school street for Sandhills community primary school in Headington to include Delbush Avenue following concerns about road safety and parking issues. People can read the proposals and share their feedback in a survey open until the end of 13 October 2025.

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