From car queues to clean air: more Blackburn with Darwen children travel actively to school

More children across Blackburn with Darwen are walking, wheeling and scooting to school thanks to the continued growth of the borough’s walk-to-school programme – ‘WOW’, run by charity Living Streets on behalf of the council.

A pupil-led initiative where children self-report how they get to their primary school every day, the latest figures based on data collected over the Autumn 2025 term show a significant shift in how primary school children are getting to school. Active journeys have risen from around half to more than three quarters of all trips (76%), while the number of children travelling by car all the way has almost halved. Walking and wheeling has increased steadily, and Park & Stride use, meaning parking the car further away from school, has grown sharply. Children have been awarded collectible WOW badges in the process.

In fact, data from participating schools shows that average walk and wheel journeys in Blackburn with Darwen exceed national averages by more than five percentage points.

Increasing active travel not only has incredible health benefits for primary school children and their families but it also creates a safer environment around the school, with reduced traffic, less parking concerns and cleaner air.

The programme continues to see strong commitment from schools across the borough, with all eighteen schools who participated last year choosing to continue. Five new primary schools have joined the initiative, including Shadsworth Junior School, who have recently benefited from the launch of the refreshed Arran Trail, which the council invested in to ensure local journeys are safer and more accessible for pupils.

St Luke and St Philip’s CE Primary School has emerged as a flagship example of what can be achieved. By combining WOW with a council school route audit, major improvements have been made to the area around the school, including adding new railings, tarmacking footways around the school and installing a barrier to prevent fly-tipping; making children feel more comfortable to step through the school gates. You can watch a video about their journey on our YouTube channel.

Further improvements are already planned. Another school route audit took place with Livesey St Francis CE Primary School in January, addressing concerns raised by the school community about the surrounding area and identifying ways to make routes safer and more welcoming for children and families.

Councillor Quesir Mahmood, Executive Member of Growth and Development:

Offering this project to schools has allowed us not only to increase active travel rates but also reduce congestion at the school gates and improve air quality.

The school route audits offered have so far have complimented the scheme fantastically and amplified what we can do for schools. I’m really pleased to announce that we’ll be completing more of these in future — making a positive difference for the whole community.

Councillor Julie Gunn, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education said:

Instilling healthy habits at a young age is absolutely key, and I’m really proud that we can support children’s health and independence by working with Living Streets.

The project continues to go from strength to strength, and I’m sure this will continue.

Daniel O’Connell, Project Coordinator for Living Streets said:

It’s brilliant to see so many children in Blackburn with Darwen choosing to walk and travel actively to school. These small daily journeys are making a big difference!

By combining our WOW behaviour-change programme with practical improvements to school routes, we’re reducing car dependency, improving air quality and giving children safer, healthier ways to get to school.

The twenty-three primary schools currently taking part in the project are:

• 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
• Wensley Fold Church of England Primary Academy

If you know of a school that would like to join other schools in the borough and take part in the ‘WOW’ project, please ask one of the school’s teachers to contact the project co-ordinator, Daniel O’Connell, by e-mailing daniel.oconnell@livingstreets.org.uk.