Primary school children across England are being empowered to help improve how they get to school through a new initiative that allows them to become ‘junior active travel inspectors.’
Launched on 11 July 2025, the scheme encourages children to assess local walking and cycling routes and suggest improvements, with the aim of making school journeys safer, greener, and more active.
Working with teachers and parents, the young inspectors will use a new child-friendly app based on Active Travel England’s inspection checklist. Their audits will help identify barriers to walking, cycling, wheeling, or scooting to school and propose practical changes to encourage more children to choose healthier modes of travel.
The initiative comes as part of a broader government push to boost active travel, with £616 million committed over the next four years and a further £300 million announced earlier in 2025 to build 300 miles of new cycle lanes and pavements. The investment is expected to reduce traffic congestion, cut NHS pressure by saving around 43,000 sick days and deliver £1.4 billion in economic benefits.
Currently, about 40% of primary pupils and 25% of secondary students are driven to school, contributing significantly to morning traffic. The scheme is designed to reverse that trend by involving children in shaping safer, more accessible routes to school.
Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: ‘Walking, scooting and cycling to work and school has many benefits, to the economy, to congestion, air quality and physical and mental health. We want to make sure that more children and families can take advantage.
‘We’re putting young people at the heart of our Active Travel mission, and delivering this innovative new scheme will help councils make smarter decisions, improve local infrastructure, and support our Plan for Change by boosting local economies and easing pressure on the NHS.’
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