Greg Mulholland-Working Hard For Leeds North WestCAR CULTURE MAKING OUR KIDS OBESE: MULHOLLAND
August 2, 2005 12:00 AM
Following the release of figures by the Department for Transport, which reveal a decrease of 11% in the proportion of primary school children who walk to school over the last decade, new analysis of Government travel figures by the Liberal Democrats, shows that:
• This figure was mirrored by a 11% increase in the proportion of primary school children driven to school.
• Nearly a quarter of the cars on urban roads during the peak time of 8.45 am were driven by parents taking their children to school.
• The number of children under the age of ten considered to be overweight rose from 22.7% - 27.7% (1995 - 2003)
Greg has been an outspoken campaigner to decrease the daily school run and supported the Metro's Yellow Bus Scheme pilot in Otley.
Commenting, Greg said:
"The government has failed to tackle the rising dependence of driving young children to school. Not only does this cause congestion and pollution on our roads but contributes to the general deterioration of the health of young children.
"Liberal Democrat councils are leading the way as noted by the recent London Sustainability Travel Awards.
"If we're to tackle peak time congestion the most obvious method would be to reduce the numbers of parents driving their children to school. But this can only be achieved by developing safe and convenient alternatives."
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