SCHOOL children took to the streets to help promote the need for better walking and cycling facilities in Royston. The 11 Greneway School pupils walked to their school, on Garden Walk, from the Burns Road/York Way roundabout near Tesco. The event was arra

SCHOOL children took to the streets to help promote the need for better walking and cycling facilities in Royston.

The 11 Greneway School pupils walked to their school, on Garden Walk, from the Burns Road/York Way roundabout near Tesco.

The event was arranged by Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity which is behind the �3.7million Royston underpass project, which has been designed to link the northern part of the town directly with the leisure centre and the main complex of schools.

It will give pedestrians - including a large number of schoolchildren and cyclists - easy access across town, and the plans include a new footpath and cycleway link between Green Street and Burns Road, which will run underneath the railway line via the underpass.

Using a measuring wheel, the children worked out that they had walked 1.75km by the time they arrived at their destination. Once the underpass is built, this distance will be halved.

Stuart Pile, Executive Member for Highways and Transport at Herts County Council, said: "The walk was organised to illustrate the difference that the underpass will make to their daily travel arrangements and those of many other members of the local community who will also benefit when the scheme has been completed.

"We know from numerous studies that we have carried out that many children would much rather walk or cycle to school with their friends than be ferried around by car, and part of our job is to make it as safe and convenient as possible for them to do just that," he said.

Sustrans ran 79 similar events up and down the country, promoting the theme of "independence" for walkers and cyclists.

The county council is currently processing compulsory purchase orders in preparation for the construction of the underpass, which is set to go ahead in the spring of 2010. It is anticipated that the project will be complete the following year.