Students at Forge Valley Secondary School have urged Sheffield City Council to ‘listen to young people’s voices’ amid road safety concerns for cyclists.

Young commuters have admitted facing barriers to cycling to the Stannington-based school due to poor safety regulations and a lack of support in gaining confidence on the roads.

Alfie, a student at Forge Valley who cycles to work and to school, said that he doesn’t feel confident leaving his bike unattended while at school due to these safety worries.

Speaking at the North Local Area Committee meeting last Thursday evening, he said: “For me, at this school, the biggest barrier is that there is no safe place to put your bike. At Forge, there’s no cycling structure whatsoever, there’s no shelter, no bike locks.

“There’s four bike locks – that aren’t covered – outside the school grounds in the car park which means anyone can get to them so I don’t really feel comfortable putting my bike there.”

After hearing that there could be a bike lock coming soon, Alfie hopes that this could help encourage more people to cycle due to its benefit for the planet.

In 2022, UCLA research showed that choosing to cycle over driving a car once a day can reduce your carbon emissions from transportation by 67 per cent, thus contributing to cleaner air and reduced noise pollution.

Hannah, another Forge student who cycles to school, pointed out the physical barrier to cycling after previous negative experiences has knocked her confidence on the roads.

She said: “I’ve had quite a few negative experiences cycling to school – I do it for efficiency, not because I enjoy it.

“I think what put me off at first was the fact that I had no experience on the roads whatsoever.

“I just feel if there was some sort of way of gaining confidence on the roads, maybe a course you could do. 

“The way I learnt my confidence on the roads was just by doing it and obviously I made quite a few mistakes and I learnt everything through experience. It was quite daunting at the time but I’ve grown to accept it.”

Councillor for West Ecclesfield Ann Whitaker said: “I always think it’s really powerful when we’ve got young people wanting to engage with councillors – and ultimately the council – and it’s really important that we listen to your views and respond to them where we can.”

In an attempt to keep the roads safe, the council have previously implemented a School Streets scheme which is funded by the money raised by the Clean Air Zones in the city centre.

The scheme excludes traffic from primary schools for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon and is being considered as a solution for the issues faced by students at Forge Valley.