Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

It is a street with a school entrance, which is restricted to use by pedestrians and cyclists, with most motor vehicle traffic prohibited, between the hours of 8.00 to 09:30 and 14:00 to 16:00 on weekdays. In accordance with the Highway Code for the School Street signs, the restriction applies to the act of driving into the road during the stated hours. Vehicles arriving outside these hours will be permitted to remain parked in the road and to drive out of the road at any time. In practice, the restrictions are not enforced outside the school terms. Exempt vehicles can drive into the road at all times.

The School Street is proposed, firstly, in response to credible requests for something to be done about obstruction, safety and air pollution concerns from the high volume of traffic and parking that can happen at school times. The Department for Transport and the London Mayor has made it a policy that local Councils must introduce measures to help children and parents to use cars less and to walk, cycle and use public transport more.

Consultation feedback will be presented as part of a report to the Executive Mayor of Croydon, for him to decide whether the scheme should be introduced on a trial basis.  

If approved, the Healthy School Street will be implemented as a trial under an Experimental Traffic Management Order (ETMO) for a maximum period of 18 months. The first six months is known as the statutory objection period, during which those affected by the trial scheme can submit formal objections. Introducing a scheme under an ETMO allows the council, school and others to experience its true effects, and give them an opportunity to raise any objections.

The council introduced the first School Streets schemes in 2017. Follow up surveys show that schools and residents inside the zones remain in overall favour of the schemes and that significantly more children now walk to school. The inconvenience of having to apply for a permit is disliked but is outweighed by the benefits. The displacement of residual parking into neighbouring roads has been a cause for initial concern. However, this effect is reduced in amount and is dispersed over a wider area. Driving school parents have needed time to become influenced and find alternative arrangements to their usual car journey. The eventual reduction in car use can benefit the surrounding road network.

Motor vehicles belonging to the following groups of drivers are eligible for an exemption permit, to enable them driving into the School Street during the hours of operation:

• Occupier within the zone, with a registered vehicle or a hire, company or courtesy car.
• Vehicles used in the transport of children and adults with special access needs, including private vehicles, taxies and minicabs declared for such use.
• Business and school employees with allocated parking on their premises inside the zone.
• Essential health and care visitors, including relatives of residents with care needs.
• All day commercial operators, such as builders, decorators and heavy goods suppliers, are eligible for a temporary permit covering the duration of their necessary work activities.

The exemption permit is simply an electronic record in the compliance system and there is no need to physically affix anything to a vehicle.

Motor vehicles belonging to the following groups and situations are automatically permitted to drive in a School Street, without first obtaining an exemption permit:

• Emergency services.
• Statutory public services, such as gas/electricity companies and refuse collectors.
• Universal postal service providers, such as the Royal Mail.
• Breakdown and recovery vehicles, when serving an address inside the zone.
• Exemptions stated in the Highway Code, such as with the permission or at the direction of a police officer.

The permit is free (£0.00) and requested by email to schoolstreets@croydon.gov.uk. The following information should be provided:

• Name and address.
• Vehicle registration number.
• Scan or photo/picture copy of the DVLA V5C form (front page of vehicle’s Log Book).
• The DVLA V5C form should show the vehicle being registered at the address within the School Street. Please ask schoolstreets@croydon.gov.uk if you have special circumstances, including if you are a carer or drive a company or hire car that is registered elsewhere. The scheme is not intended to hinder anyone with an essential access and mobility needs.
• Unplanned events, such as a boiler repair for example, are issued with a day permit, which can be requested retrospectively up to 24 hours after the event. Please obtain the vehicle registration number and notify schoolstreets@croydon.gov.uk.

Note: As the number of schemes grow it is envisaged to eventually create an online exemption service, as opposed to manually processing emails; but such development is not yet justifiable for the low number of exemptions that are currently in place.

Other drivers who wish to access the School Street must arrive outside the hours of operation, or they can temporarily park outside the zone and then move the vehicle once the restrictions end. The vehicles that are not eligible for a permit notably include those of:

• General visitors.
• Home deliveries.
• Business and school employees without access to on-premises parking (the scheme is not intended to free up the road to substitute for workplace parking). It is though pragmatically accepted that on-site parking may occasionally create an over-spill into the public road.

A traffic camera with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and a detection algorithm will operate during the controlled hours. To prevent false triggers and to permit a driver correcting a turning mistake, the alleged contravention trigger point is a small distance into the road. The

Penalty Charge Notice is £130 (discounted to £65 if paid within 14 days) and issued to the registered keeper of a vehicle. This penalty charge is set by a London-wide authority, to reflect a level necessary in deterring driving contraventions. Drivers can appeal any penalty, stating a legally valid reason for driving in the School Street.

Every individual ANPR camera has a Privacy Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA), which is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. The DPIA checks and demonstrates that the processing of personal data is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018.

The fixed position ANPR camera is type approved by the Department for Transport and operates within the Surveillance Commissioners Codes of Practice. The ANPR camera is operated in a way that does not constitute surveillance and does not interfere with rights granted under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The camera focuses strictly on the traffic entry point to the street. It only uploads a short recording when a driving contravention is detected.

The camera cannot be turned or used for any other purpose, such as for observing private individuals or recording anti-social behaviour.