Devon children take 'active' journeys to school

But just once every four days on average

A competition to get Devon school children physically active by walking, cycling, wheeling and scooting to school, as well as completing physical activities, has finished with them achieving an average of about four minutes each a day.

Nearly six thousand youngsters got their heart rates up for a total of nearly 240,000 minutes over 10 days of the competition.

A campaigning charity called Sustrans held the competition in April, encouraging children to make 'active journeys', by which they mean walking or cycling.

On average, children at "school communities across Devon" who took part made an active journey or completed physical activities taking about 10 minutes twice a week.

Sport England says physical activity levels of children have fallen because of the pandemic, with almost a third of children in England engaging in less than half an hour of daily physical activity in the 2019/2020 academic year. 

A YouGov survey commissioned by Sustrans shows half of children across the UK: "worry about air pollution near their school" and four in ten "believe the best way to bring down levels of air pollution near their schools is for more people to walk, cycle or scoot to school."

Sustrans says if the children taking active journeys during their Big Pedal had travelled to school by car instead, it could have created 14 tonnes of CO2 and 27kg of NOx. That’s enough to fill more than half a million party balloons with harmful CO2 - an interesting concept, which presumably you shouldn't try at home.

Speaking about the results of the Big Pedal competition, James Cleeton, director for south of England at Sustrans said: “This year, perhaps more than ever, it has been brilliant to see so many people enjoying their active journeys to school. Being able to make the Big Pedal happen again despite the pandemic has been truly great."

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council cabinet member with responsibility for cycling, said: "We're proud of the amazing effort put in by Devon school children again this year to make it another successful Big Pedal."