School Streets for Ferryhill?
Parents and residents have identified high volumes of traffic and difficulty crossing the road as barriers to active travel at Ferryhill School.
In a 2024 survey of Ferryhill parents, 80.5% of respondents were in favour of trialling a School Streets programme in the streets around the school.
FAST members gave a deputation to the Net Zero, Environment and Transport Committee in January 2025 in support of School Streets, and Aberdeen City Council are currently (April 2025) seeking interest from schools and parent councils across the city, who may wish to trial School Streets.
What is School Streets?
School Streets is a scheme that creates safer, healthier environments outside schools by temporarily restricting non-residential traffic during school drop-off and pick-up times. It’s designed to reduce congestion, cut air pollution, and make it easier and safer for children and families to walk, cycle or scoot to school.
The restriction typically applies for 30–45 minutes at the start and end of the school day, with residents, blue badge holders, emergency services, and essential visitors still able to access the area. The goal is to discourage through-traffic, not prevent local access.
School Streets are already in place in many cities across Scotland, including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, and are helping communities create safer, calmer streets for everyone.
Find out more - https://schoolstreets.org.uk
Residents Survey
FAST have delivered leaflets to residents in streets which may be affected by School Streets road closures, to increase awareness and engagement, and seek their feedback prior to a trial.
Residents are invited to complete the survey at School Streets Residents Survey
Which Streets will be affected?
This is for the school, community and council to agree. We would expect as a minimum Caledonian Place between Bon Accord Street and Albury Place would be a School Street, but we could trial School Streets in surrounding roads to gauge the impact and benefit.
What about parking for parents/carers who need to drive?
In parallel to a School Streets trial, we would look at appropriate locations for "Park and Stride" parking, where parents and carers park a short distance from the school, and walk the remainder of the journey.