A SCHOOL closed a road for two hours yesterday to fight poor air quality and provide pupils with a safer walk to school.

St Luke’s Primary School shut Queen’s Park Rise in Brighton between 8.30am and 9.30am, and 3.10pm and 4.10pm.

It was one of 39 schools in the UK taking part in the Sustrans Big Pedal 2019s School Streets event. In the closed-off road activities such as hula hooping, skipping and table tennis were held.

Roddy Crockett, partnership manager for Sustrans, said: “We have been putting on all these activities to show people this is how it could be.

“We wanted to try it out to see if it was something they would want to do more often, and everyone I’ve spoken to has had nothing but positive things to say.”

School Streets are short, timed street closures at the start and end of the school day.

Mr Crockett said: “They make the approach to school safer, healthier and less congested for everyone, while making sure residents, businesses, pedestrians and cyclists can still use the road.”

The scheme aims to encourage pupils to use “human power”, choosing to walk or cycle to school, by closing the streets outside the schools.

The idea was developed in Italy and has now been trialled by several local authorities in the UK. Mr Crockett said that he hoped this event could lead to further closures, as has been the case in Edinburgh, Hackney and Islington.

He said: “This is not just for air pollution, it’s also about children’s health and wellbeing.

“We are worried about children’s activity levels. These events allow children to have a safer journey to school and a good chat with their parents.”

Jo Read, whose grandson goes to the school, said she thought the scheme was “great”. The 77-year-old said: “They have got just the right sort of games here and everyone is really enjoying it. You can’t do things like play football on the streets anymore because it’s too dangerous, but here children are doing activities like skipping which I used to do.”

Sophie Hyder’s daughter, Evie, also attends the school. The 29-year-old said: “I think it’s brilliant. The kids are able to run around and play without having to worry about cars or traffic.”

A spokesman for St Luke’s added: “As a community, we would like to celebrate the benefits of active travel to school.”