Call to ban cars from school areas

Car exclusion zones should be set up around schools to make families walk as part of an attempt to tackle obesity and climate change, a report has suggested. Banning vehicles from the vicinity of schools could help to reverse the dramatic decline in walking seen in the UK in recent decades, the Institute for European Environmental Policy said. Currently 38 per cent of all journeys under two miles - which could be covered by up to 30 minutes brisk walking - are taken by car. If a typical British adult were to walk just one hour more a week - returning to the average walked by people without cars - it would prevent them gaining two stones over a decade and make a major contribution to ending the obesity crisis.