We always knew this local election campaign was going to be epic!
Here's the story - in numbers - of our #StreetsForKids campaign with @cleancitiescampaign
We had THREE asks for councils:
🚸 More effective School Streets
🚲 More funding and storage for cargo bikes
🛑 Fewer cars parked on the kerbside so children can cross roads safely
Why? Our streets are not safe or healthy for kids! We kicked off our campaign with new research that shows 443 children are injured on their way to or from school every day.
➽ We worked with four London boroughs: Hackney, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, to sign up to our manifesto and met SEVEN cabinet-level candidates and many more councillors, explaining why these asks are so important.
➽ Our incredible parent network mobilised, with hundreds of families joining their local WhatsApp group to support change and sending 361 emails to local candidates, securing 59 pledge signatories. And SEVEN local parties included our asks in their own manifestos.
➽ We also held SEVEN events, bringing together HUNDREDS of families alongside councillor candidates, showing the huge demand for safer streets around schools.
➽ TWO rallies featuring DOZENS of tiny (and very cute) zebras, highlighting the dangers children face near their schools.
➽ TWO joyful bike buses, demonstrating the appetite for safe cycling routes to school — including ONE led by the amazing @coachbalto
➽ THREE “Show & Tells”, where families walked councillor candidates through the danger hotspots their children navigate every day.
⭐ To top it off, we launched research showing that a London family using a cargo bike could save £4,000 a year compared to owning a second-hand car.
💪 Almost all the cabinet level candidates we engaged now have significant roles in office. And they go into that office having pledged to deliver on our manifesto. We look forward to holding them to that.
📣 This campaign showed the enormous appetite for #StreetsForKids across London. Parents, children and communities are crying out for safer, healthier streets, and when people are given the chance to speak up, they do. Loudly.
Thank you @hackneylabour for championing child safety and committing to our Streets For Kids campaign manifesto.
Hackney Labour say:
🚸 We will increase our school streets enforcement.
🚲 We will increase parking for cargo bikes.
🌳We will look at ways to use our kerbsides more effectively, from parking for people with disabilities, managing dockless bike hires and cargo bikes.
@sarahjoannayoung@caroline.woodley@solvehackney@hackney_new_primary@lowtraffichackney
#hackneylabour #LabourParty #roadsafety #childsafety #localelections2026 #RoadSafety #StreetsForKids
Thank you @hackneygreenparty for championing child safety and committing to our Streets For Kids campaign manifesto.
Hackney Greens say:
🚸We will create traffic-free School Streets for all eligible primary and secondary schools, as well as introducing them at colleges.
🚲We will expand the network of e-cargo bike hire schemes across Hackney.
🌳We will design and implement a kerbside strategy to bring new life to kerbside spaces for safer crossings, greater accessibility, public seating, climate resilience and increased urban biodiversity. We will introduce new car parking permit structures that reflect vehicle size, weight and emissions, to deter the use of SUVs and ensure people pay their fair share to improve the safety and accessibility of our roads.
#localelections #solvetheschoolrun #LocalElections2026 #RoadSafety #StreetsForKids #LondonParents
@zoegarbettgreen@hackneycable@solvehackney@hackney_new_primary@lowtraffichackney
🚸 Great to receive such positive support from our councillor candidates on Thursday morning at our #StreetsForKids event.
🚗 We showed them the chaos outside Hackney New Primary school at drop off and they agreed it's not acceptable. We discussed the solutions; putting the school's main entrance on Kingsland Road into the existing school street.
🏫 Hackney has 46% of its schools covered by a school street, the fifth highest borough in London! But our parent network says some of those are too small and not enforced with bollards or cameras. This means they are not effective school streets.
😃 We're pleased that both Hackney Greens & Hackney Labour have promised to support school streets in their manifesto. We look forward to ACTION after the election.
Thank you DeBeauvoir candidates; Jasmine Martins, Gemma Per Bo, Joe Walker.
@cllrjasminemartins@joewalkeruk@hackneygreenparty@hackneylabour
#SchoolRun #LondonParents #LocalElections2026
📣 New research shows that families can save thousands of pounds a year by ditching their car for an electric cargo bike - but many households, particularly those living in flats, cannot make the switch.
💷 As the war in the Middle East pushes up fuel prices, @solveschoolrun and @cleancitiescampaign have calculated that using an e-cargo bike and public transport for family travel is £4,000 a year cheaper than using a second-hand family car and public transport. The analysis includes purchase price, depreciation, running costs, and additional transport costs.
🚘 Since the beginning of March petrol prices have jumped 20 per cent, while the diesel spike has been even bigger, increasing by 36 per cent.
📢 We're calling on London boroughs to introduce subsidies to make cargo bikes more accessible to families, as outlined in our #StreetsforKids manifesto.
👉 Find out more in the news link in our bio - or go to 🔗 /blog
#cargobikes #cargobikefamily #cargobikesofinstagram #londonparents #parentinghacks #solvetheschoolrun
😮 Yes, that's right: there are just TWO secure cargo bike parking spaces in London. That's one space for every 4,500,000 people in the capital.
😁 E-cargo bikes are an increasingly popular option for those concerned about the cost of living. Analysis in partnership with @cleancitiescampaign cleancitiescampaign analysis of data from Transport for London shows that cargo bike journeys doubled between 2022 and 2024 and 2025 figures from the Bicycle Association show a 36% year on year increase in e-cargo bikes sales.
🤨However, sales in the UK are way behind other European countries, with just 4,000 sold in 2022, compared with 70,000 in France and 90,000 in Germany.
💷 The barriers include up front costs - an e-cargo bike can cost around £6,000 - and a safe place to store the bikes.
🗝 With councillors due to be elected across the country on 7 May, the researchers have found that families are being “locked out” of thousands of pounds in potential savings because of a severe shortage of secure cargo bike parking.
🗣“We speak to hundreds of families every year who are keen to buy an e-cargo bike, but lack of secure storage stops them,” said Alper Muduroglu, CEO of Peddle My Wheels.”
Even in London, which often has better bike storage facilities than other parts of the country, there are just two secure spaces in on-street cargo bike hangars, one for every 4,500,000 people in the capital.
🚘 There are one million parking spaces for cars.
🔗Link to full story in bio.
📣 New research shows that families can save thousands of pounds a year by ditching their car for an electric cargo bike - but many households, particularly those living in flats, cannot make the switch.
💷 As the war in the Middle East pushes up fuel prices, @solveschoolrun and @cleancitiescampaign have calculated that using an e-cargo bike and public transport for family travel is £4,000 a year cheaper than using a second-hand family car and public transport. The analysis includes purchase price, depreciation, running costs, and additional transport costs.
🚘 Since the beginning of March petrol prices have jumped 20 per cent, while the diesel spike has been even bigger, increasing by 36 per cent.
🤸 @doctorchrisvt - aka Dr Chris Van Tulleken, the BAFTA-winning TV presenter and practising doctor, has shared his story of making the switch and is a huge advocate of family cargo e-bikes.
“We replaced our car with a cargo bike and have never looked back. It’s way cheaper and faster than a car, and our favourite way to get all three kids around London - they love it, and I love it.
It’s great for our health, our happiness, our climate and our community.”
📢 We're calling on London boroughs to introduce subsidies to make cargo bikes more accessible to families, as outlined in our #StreetsforKids manifesto.
👉 Find out more in the news link in our bio - or go to 🔗 /blog
#cargobikes #cargobikefamily #cargobikesofinstagram #londonparents #parentinghacks #solvetheschoolrun
What is a school street and why does
anyone need one?
💡A school street is where the road by a school is closed to traffic during the hours of school drop of and pick up, to prioritise the health and safety of the majority of families who are walking or wheeling to school. Exemptions are provided for residents, blue badge holders and SEND pupils.
25% of London rush hour traffic is the school run and, in some areas, the school run has been reported to
increase pollution and bus times by an enormous 50% compared to school holidays. A reduction in traffic also makes it safer to walk or cycle the school run.
EVERYONE benefits when there are fewer cars on the road transporting children to school.
Every school deserves to have an effective school street.
#streetsforkids
😮 Did you know that children now are “the least active generation ever"?
🌳 Also that 20% of London’s children have no access to a garden?
🚲🚶♀️🚶🏿♂️Which makes it hugely important that they are able to safely navigate the world on their doorstep.
🚗 Cars are stationary 96% of the time, parked at the kerbside, dominating the pavements of many London boroughs. Add to this the huge growth in SUVs - from 3% to 30% of London’s cars in 20 years - and it is becoming impossible for children to see past the cars to safely cross their local streets.
📢 Boroughs should prioritise the kerbside as much as possible in favour of child-friendly measures that help kids to be safer, more active and healthy. We are asking councils to deliver a dedicated kerbside strategy by 2027 that will enable them to:
🚸Increase double yellow lines, zig zag lines and informal crossings so children can see and be seen.
🌾 Install more parklets, cycle hangars, shared-use mobility bays and greenery whilst maintaining safe sight lines.
💷 Introduce fairer parking tariffs to discourage carspreading, when cars are unnecessarily large and dangerous.
💫 Support our #streetsforkids campaign to get all of this and more into local council manifestos before May 7.
👉👉👉 How? Follow us and write to your councillor using our simple tool linked in the bio or head to: .uk/schoolrun/ #StreetsForKids #londonparents #roadsafety #SchoolRun
🐥 We hope you're having a wheely great bank holiday weekend - and burning off all that excess Easter chocolate energy!
🐰 We'll be back in a week.
🌸 Love from all of us at @solvetheschoolrun
Liked by lowtraffichackney and 1 other
What could have stopped this terrifying near miss (not of the car and lampost, obviously)?
Two schools and one nursery are on this street. The crash happened betwen 2.30 and 3.30. It doesn't bear thinking about how bad this could have been. Pedestrians and cyclists simply are not safe here.
So what could have prevented it?
Driving restrictions! Downham Road desperately needs these - drivers are out of control!
Photo: @markruddy.bsky.social
#streetsforkids #trafficaccident
