The journey towards safer, healthier, and more active school communities is accelerating across the North, with School Streets playing a vital role in reimagining how children and families travel to school. With Greater Manchester setting an ambitious target to expand its School Streets programme from 30 to 100 by 2028, the region is taking a bold step towards creating safer streets, cleaner air, and healthier travel habits.

School Streets North 2025 brings together local authorities, transport professionals, campaigners and educators to explore the successes, challenges, and future of School Streets. The event will highlight how strong leadership, local engagement and effective policy can drive meaningful change, while providing a platform for knowledge-sharing, debate and collaboration.

From setting up a School Street to long-term sustainability, the conference will provide invaluable insights through:

• Practical guidance on planning, implementing, and sustaining School Streets
• Innovative case studies showcasing best practices from across the UK
• Interactive workshops tackling key challenges such as enforcement, monitoring, and behaviour change
• Inspiring talks from active travel champions shaping the future of streets

With one-third of peak-time traffic attributed to the school run, and with childhood obesity levels rising, the need for change has never been more urgent. Recent efforts in the North demonstrate the growing momentum behind School Streets, with local leaders keen to support communities in launching new schemes.