Dave, Roland, Anzir, Simon, Martin:



I am absolutely delighted to have these different vies and wise
expressions of support for the 'walk to school' (might also be cycle or
skating but what is important is that the kids get there under their own
steam and safely). In fact, the concept of this walk is one of the
central pillars of the New Mobility Agenda -- to the extent that it is
almost impossible to consider that the Agenda is in place unless this is
the main means of getting to school each day. It is so very important
for reasons of health and the child's social and psychological
development, that its role in the community must be seen as a
fundamental underlying target of transport and school policy.



A decade ago we opened up a parallel focus program under the Agenda
somewhat awkwardly entitled "Children on the Move! Small Steps to
Sustainable Lives" -- our intention being to develop a lively forum and
group project to zero in on these are related child/transport issues, a
very rich and important sub-set of our overall mandate here.
Unfortunately I never found the key to make it work, more than anything
else a matter of limited time and resources here in this all too finite
world. If you go to <http://ecoplan.org/children/ch_index.htm>
http://ecoplan.org/children/ch_index.htm you can see the shards of that
earlier attempt, which we could still do some interesting and useful
things with if anyone wished to get in and give it a go.



To give you a feel for the extent to which this is far from a moribund
subject, I can suggest that you click the "Small steps news" on the top[
menu. It's a bit of a jungle but nonetheless offers ample food for
thought.



A great place to sharpen your tools on this is the International Walk to
School website at http://www.iwalktoschool.org/, and the UK site at
http://www.walktoschool.org.uk/ are golden resources for this.



One aspect possibly worth mentioning is our belief that children can and
should themselves get directly, actively involved in the process of
mapping and understanding the transport dimensions of their lives. And
in the process take their first steps toward becoming better informed
and more responsible as active citizens. It is never too early to start.



It would be great if we could find out how to be useful, helpful in all
this. Your good letters underline the importance of all this.



Eric Britton









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