Funding

There are a number of opportunities for accessing funding through your school travel plan.

1. Capital Grant from the DfES (state-maintained/VA schools)

When a travel plan has been completed in accordance with the established criteria, and approved by London Borough of Sutton, Transport for London and the DfES, a school will receive £3750/5000 (primary/secondary) plus £5 per pupil on role. This typically equates to £5000 for a primary school and £10000 for a secondary school.
The funding is to be spent on something that supports your school travel plan. Schools in Sutton have used the money for things such as installing pedestrian shelters for waiting parents and pupils, upgrading surfaces and access to the school, widening gates for pedestrians, strengthening separations between car-parks/entrances and pedestrian entrances. See attached case studies for further information.
To receive this funding you must submit your final school travel plan* to London Borough of Sutton by 1 March 2008.

2. Grant from Transport for London (Independent schools)

London Borough of Sutton was awarded funding from Transport for London to offer independent schools the same funding for school travel plans as state-maintained schools receive from the DfES. (£3750/5000 (primary/secondary) plus £5 per pupil on role).
To receive this funding you must submit your final school travel plan* to London Borough of Sutton by 1 March 2008.

3. Teacher supply cover towards the development of a school travel plan

To support the development of your school travel plan we are able to offer funding to schools to release teachers from class to give some time to the development of a school travel plan. To access this the school must commit to submitting an approved school travel plan by 1 March 2008.
The amount is typically £200 per school. If you don’t need teacher supply cover funding but do feel that £200 could support the development of your school travel plan in another way, please discuss this with the School Travel Team at LBS.

4. Cycle Storage for your school

The Mayor of London has a commitment to install cycle storage at schools where they identify the need for it in their school travel plan. This is a great opportunity as not only is the storage free but sourcing the storage and contractors is all dealt with by Transport for London. The storage is modern, attractive and user friendly. Schools that have cycle storage installed tend to find that there is an instant increase in the number of people cycling to school as a result.
To receive cycle storage you must submit your final school travel plan* to London Borough of Sutton by 1 March 2008.

5. Sustainable Travel Small Grants

London Borough of Sutton have a small fund for schools with school travel plans to submit bids for their own innovative schemes to promote sustainable travel to and from their school. There will be two rounds of bidding: September 2007 and February 2008. Amount to be confirmed (dependent on how many schools apply). Schools must have an approved school travel plan to apply.
Funding is available as soon as the school has submitted and had approved by London Borough of Sutton, the DfES and Transport for London**

6. Engineering works to improve safety on the roads around your school

Schools are often concerned that their local roads are unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists to use. They wish to obtain engineering works to improve this situation.
Engineering works around schools are now funded via the presence of a school travel plan: you must have an approved plan in order to access the works. There are two reasons for this: it’s your opportunity to find out from your school community what the problems really are, and express this to the Council. Secondly it promotes a partnership approach: the school shows that it will do what it can to reduce traffic (is some of the unsafely caused by your own parents/carers taking/collecting children to/from school?); the Council will support these efforts by installing engineering measures where possible.
Traffic Engineers from London Borough of Sutton will come to meet with your during the development of your school travel plan, to explore the issues and possible solutions. We encourage you to invite a few members of your school, including pupils/students, to be present at this meeting.

7. Other opportunities

There are frequently opportunities that arise through the London-wide or Sutton school travel plan programme for schools to participate in. Recently we have had:
schools’ cycling road show;
• tour of Theatre in Education on a sustainable travel/environmental theme;
• workshop with fashion students at Central St Martins for schools to design cycling fashion items;
• visits by Helen Young, ex-BBC Lead Weather Presenter and climate change expert.
Such opportunities will always be prioritised for schools who have an approved school travel plan in place.

* “final school travel plan”: please note that “final” means that we have worked together to ensure your school travel plan fully meets the criteria set for school travel plans by the DfES. If you submit a school travel plan, which you consider to be final, but that you have not discussed with us prior to your submitting it, there is a possibility that we will not be able to approve it.

**although the deadline for the DfES funding is 1 March 2008, in fact school travel plans can be submitted and approved at any time before this. As soon as we have obtained the approval of Transport for London and the DfES it will be possible for your school to access the small grants scheme and any arising opportunities offered to schools with approved school travel plans.