More Blackburn with Darwen children are walking, wheeling or park-and-striding to school, with the borough’s latest figures showing 78% of trips are now made actively.
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The update, covering April 2025 to March 2026, says more than half of all journeys are walking journeys. It also shows the proportion of children driven to school has dropped by 28 percentage points, from 50% to 21%.
During the year, 7,000 pupils logged trips on travel trackers as part of the council’s WOW walk-to-school programme. Five new schools joined the scheme, taking the total to 23 schools across Blackburn with Darwen.
The programme is run by the charity Living Streets on behalf of the council, with pupils recording how they get to school each day.
Wensley Fold CE Primary Academy logged more than 50,000 journeys, while Audley Junior School and St Stephen’s CE Primary School both logged more than 40,000.
School route audits have so far been completed at four schools. At Livesey St Francis CE Primary School, one audit recommended a School Street on Cherry Tree Lane and a new controlled pedestrian crossing on Preston Old Road, which the article says is due to be installed this summer.
At St Luke & St Philip’s Primary School, the council said changes had a dramatic effect on the area around the school.
Councillor Quesir Mahmood, Executive Member of Growth and Development, said: The increase in children walking/wheeling to school has a direct impact on traffic in areas around schools, making them immediately safer. It also has health benefits for the families and reduces carbon emissions. I hope the scheme continues to grow even further over the next twelve months and that we are able to support more schools with route audits.
Councillor Julie Gunn, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, said: It’s fantastic to the see the scheme go from strength to strength both in terms of schools joining the programme and the overall increase in walking and wheeled journeys. This highlights the strong appetite for families wanting to change behaviours which bring many health benefits to pupils. We wholeheartedly encourage all schools to consider joining the programme and to get in touch and find out more.
The council says the walk/wheel rate is now 6.6 percentage points above the national average.
Schools currently taking part include Avondale Primary School, Audley Junior School, Cedars Primary School, Brookhouse Primary School, Daisyfield Primary School, St. Barnabas Church of England Primary Academy, Darwen, Livesey Saint Francis’ Church of England School, Longshaw Community Junior School, Meadowhead Junior School, Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Roe Lee Park Primary School, Shadsworth Junior School, Shadsworth Infant School, St. Antony’s RC Primary School, St. Barnabas and St Paul’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, St. Cuthbert’s Church of England Primary School, St. Edward’s Roman Catholic Primary School Blackburn, St. James’ Church of England Primary School, Earl Street, St. Luke and St. Philips Church of England Primary School, St. Matthew’s Church of England Primary School, St. Stephen’s Church of England Primary School, Sudell Primary School and Wensley Fold Church of England Primary Academy.
Schools interested in joining the council’s WOW programme are asked to contact project co-ordinator Daniel O’Connell at daniel.oconnell@livingstreets.org.uk.
