​Best foot forward for Balnain Primary active travel

Members of The Highland Council’s City of Inverness Area Committee have agreed £18,000 funding for an active travel project at Balnain Primary School, Glen Urquhart.

The project aims to improve an existing footpath between the school and hall making it safer and more attractive for pupils to walk between the two buildings and for parents and carers to ‘park and stride’ their children to the school.

The £18,000 project will be funded from the Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets (CWSS) Programme budget which is provided by the Scottish Government for 2016/17.

The funding will be spent on surfacing an existing footpath that goes from the school to the pedestrian crossing at the hall. This will allow the pupils to have a safe walking link from the hall to the school and encourage the use of the hall for activities and hall car park for use as drop-off zone. Pupils will also be able to ‘park and stride’ to and from the school, benefiting their health and reducing the school gate parking issues in the immediate school area.

Highland Council Road Safety Unit works with schools to produce a School Travel Plan which focuses on the journey to and from school to develop safer routes to school and achieve a shift towards active travel.

Provost of Inverness Area Cllr Helen Carmichael said: “This is an excellent example of how improvements around our schools can make an impact of the health and wellbeing of our children now and in the future. By resurfacing this footpath and making it safer, we can encourage parents to get their children walking more while reducing the number of drop-offs at the school gates and minimising the potential for accidents. It’s a win-win situation, healthier and safer children will be happier children.”

Further information can be found at www.highland.gov.uk/srts.

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