PEEBLES High pupils could soon find themselves dropped from their school bus in a car park in town, rather than at the school, to encourage more walking.

This suggestion was published in Scottish Borders Council's Local Access and Transport Strategy paper, which will go before the executive committee next week.

If approved, the proposal would see students being dropped from the bus at Kingsmeadows Car Park and adding a 10 minute walk on their journey to and from school each day.

Walking charity Living Streets are concerned to see that the numbers walking to school have been falling for years and are backing any initiatives local governments can bring in to encourage pupils to walk. 

Director Stuart Hay said: "We support the council's drop-off scheme as it help pupils get more active. Living Streets is concerned that walking levels drop of dramatically when kids move from primary to high school and this initiative will hopefully tackle this problem.

"The majority of our grandparents walked to school but over generations we are seeing a steady decline to the point where it seems a fifth of parents wouldn't even think about ensuring their child walks to school." 

"With this, pupils will benefit from 20 minutes of exercise a day, which must be a good thing. The council should also encourage kids arriving by car to use the car park so they benefit too.”

Another part of the council paper suggests that drop of zones at schools could be limited to those pupils that live over a mile from the school.

A survey conducted by Living Streets found that half of those parents who drove their children to school lived less than a mile away and they are calling for more action from central and local government - and parents - to get more young people walking.