A key part of Climate Action Leeds is understanding what sort of impact the partnership's work is having and how it could help future efforts on climate.
This means that when a project - such as the "Walk to School Week" recently delivered by Alwoodley 2030, one of CAL's eight neighbourhood hubs - is completed, the data gathered is reviewed by our Learning & Evaluation Partner, CAG Consultants.
The aim of Walk to School Week was to encourage active travel for children at seven primary schools in Alwoodley. Like many CAL projects, this was linked to multiple aspects of climate action: "Switching to more active travel to primary school helps save carbon and improve local air quality. More active travel can also reduce congestion around school gates and thereby improve road safety. And, finally, active travel brings social benefits by being cheaper than driving, reducing traffic and congestion for those living in streets around a school, and by contributing to kids’ health and wellbeing."
Key takeaways have now been shared in a detailed report, so anyone who is interested can apply that learning to their own work on, or understanding of, climate action. Here, CAG calculated the likely impact of Alwoodley's template if it was scaled up to include all Leeds primary schools - just one example of how local action can transfer to much bigger areas.
CAG also noted the positive engagement generated through a "Travel Tracker", badges - made locally from recycled and recyclable materials - certificates, and poster design competitions, and how kids can use "pester power" to influence their parents.
Data showed that the proportion of pupils being driven to school "decreased dramatically", and almost 80% of families who responded - and who hadn't previously used active travel for school runs - said their behaviour would likely be influenced by Walk to School Week.
You can read and download the full report below - please feel free to share.
Now, CAL's Transport Transition Partner is planning to develop a toolkit to support roll out of Walk to School weeks across other schools in Leeds. Alwoodley 2030 would like to convene people in Alwoodley who indicated interest in working on long-term behaviour and infrastructure change, and hope to partner with Living Streets to explore options for local volunteers to take this forward.
You can find out more about Alwoodley 2030 here and contact CAL's Transport Transition Partner, Naomi Brown, via naomi.brown@leedstidal.org
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