Oxfordshire School Streets Trials

Oxfordshire school streets trial public consultation survey

We’d like to hear your thoughts on, and experience of the school streets being trialled at the following schools in the county from 2 September 2026. Maps of the trial school street locations and their automatic number plate registration (ANPR) can be viewed in the Documents section of this page. The school street trials (as with other school streets in the county) only operate on weekdays, during school term-times.

• Banbury – Harriers Banbury Academy between 8.15am and 9.15am and 2.30pm and 4.00pm from the junction with Bloxham Road for the length of Harrier’s View.
• Carterton – Edith Moorhouse Primary School and St Joseph's Catholic Primary School between 8.15am and 9.15am and 2.30pm and 3.30pm covering the lengths of Carter’s Close, Edgeworth Drive, Home Close, Lavender Place, Richens Drive, Rose Close and Spurrett Gardens, and Lawton Avenue between the Alvescot Road junction and the Arkell Avenue/Rock Close junction.
• Didcot – Willowcroft Community Primary School and St Birinus Boys School between 8.00am and 9.00am and 2.30pm and 3.30pm covering Abbott Road, The Croft, Glebe Road, Kynaston Road between the Mereland and Ridgeway Road junctions, Lynmouth Road, Mereland Road between the Abbott and Kynaston Road junctions, Richmere and Ridgeway Roads. Sinodun Road, Abbott Close, Laburnum Grove and Bridge Close are also eligible for exemptions as they are dependent on the school street roads to access their properties.
• Headington – Sandhills Community Primary School between 8.00am and 9.00am and 2:30 and 3:30pm. An extension of the existing school street coverage (Terrett Avenue, Elton Close and Sweet Green Close) to include Delbush Avenue from the Merewood Avenue junction up to the Hill View junction.

These school street trials are in operation from Wednesday 2 September 2026 for an initial period of six months. They are covered by an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order, which is valid for up to 18 months (allowing a trial to be continued for up to 18 months if it is considered advisable to do so). During this time, the trials are monitored closely, and the council keeps in discussion with the schools on how the trials are working for them.

We are consulting on how the school streets trials are working for people. The survey below is open for six weeks, and you can also contact us at any time during the trial with questions or feedback you may have. Please ensure you have experience of the school street being trialled before responding to the survey below as it will help you tell us how the school street trial is working for you and identify any points, we should be aware of. Specific feedback such as this can help to inform the design of the school street should it be decided to keep a school street at the location.

This decision will be made at an Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Decision meeting close to the trial end. It will be informed by several factors (which are covered in a report published on our website a few days ahead of the meeting) including: results and observations from monitoring the trial including any impacts, ongoing discussion and monitoring with the schools, people’s feedback during the trial including survey responses, feedback and observations from the informal consultation last year, and needs and benefits of the proposed actions (such as safety of children going to school).

You can find out about our meetings and how to view them or speak at them on our website.

Why are we trialling and operating school streets in Oxfordshire?

The school streets programme was introduced through the UK government’s Department for Transport funded active travel programme in 2021. Creating a car-free environment makes it easier and safer for children and their families to travel by walking, cycling, or scooting to school and means that they can leave the car at home. They are intended to create safer and healthier environments outside schools, and work by minimising the volume of motorised vehicles entering the road outside a school during their busy drop-off and pick-up times.

A key priority for Oxfordshire County Council is to create a transport network that makes active travel the first choice for short journeys. The term ‘active travel’ includes walking, cycling and wheeling. School streets is a part of our safe streets policy in our Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP) and is in our Active Travel Strategy. The aim is to create a safer, healthier, and more welcoming environment where pupils, parents and carers, and staff can walk, wheel, cycle, scoot, or park and walk to school whilst benefiting from better air quality and less traffic congestion.

How does a school street work?

The school streets trials close a section of the road to general motor vehicle traffic, except residents (who can register to be exempted), outside the school’s entrance for a short period of time during school drop-off and pick-up times on school days only. The period of time is usually for 45 minutes to one hour.

They are enforced by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras that send an automatic penalty charge notice to the address associated with the license plate details of non-exempt vehicles entering the school street area during that period. The cameras only photograph vehicle license plates going past them entering a school street during the operating times. They do not record people or properties, or vehicles leaving the school street.

People living in the school street can register their cars to ensure they are registered as exempt for that school street and preserve their access to their homes while the school street is operating. Emergency service vehicles are automatically exempt, and blue badge holders can register for exemption. You can see the full list of exemptions on our webpage.

A school street is developed by working in collaboration with schools, implementing additional active travel measures to support the increase in travelling to school by walking, wheeling, cycling, and scooting, whilst reducing car-use, and car-dependence. School streets aim to:

• reduce traffic congestion and inappropriate vehicle use
• open streets up to people walking, wheeling, cycling, and scooting
• improve road safety
• improve air quality
• provide opportunities to improve physical and mental health
• provide opportunities for children to travel to school together with their friends, building social skills
• support children so they arrive at school, energised and ready to learn
• teach children road safety and travel independence, increasing their travel confidence especially as they transition into secondary schools

Have your say

This survey covers all of the trial school streets and the trial school street extension. You will have the options to skip sections and only answer the sections of the survey you would like to if you do not wish to comment on the proposals for all of the trial school streets.

You can click below to answer the survey. The survey is open from 12pm on 2 September 2026 until 11:59pm on 1 March 2027. All responses must be received by 11.59pm on 1 March 2027.

Any questions?

You may find the answer to your question in the FAQs on this page. Or you can send a question, share your feedback or request a paper survey form by emailing: SchoolsActiveTravel@Oxfordshire.gov.uk or calling Oxfordshire County Council's customer services team on 01865 519800 (who will ask a member of the school streets team to contact you).

* Amendments:
The trial schools street plans were swapped for replacement copies of the same plans that also show the ANPR locations for the trial school streets on 21 August 2026.