SCHOOL pupils are being encouraged to walk to school as part of a new campaign.

Hampshire County Council has teamed up with national charity Living Streets for the Walk to School campaign, which will see specialists from the charity work with primary and secondary schools in Hampshire over the next three years to encourage them to revisit and update their school travel plans.

Measures from the charity include the WoW – Walk Once A Week campaign for primary schools – and Free your Feet or Campaign in a Box interventions for secondary schools.

A number of schools will also get intensive support to identify and tackle barriers to walking, as well as to promote walking to school and its benefits.

Councillor Mel Kendal, the county council’s deputy leader and executive member for environment and transport, said: “Over half of primary children do not walk to school regularly.

“Although this is unavoidable in some cases, being driven to school every day can mean that children miss out on learning valuable lessons about road safety and how to keep themselves safe.”

Living Streets chief executive Tony Armstrong said: “We help 1.9 million children a year walk to school by tackling the barriers to walking and we’re delighted to be working with the county council to help deliver the benefits in Hampshire.”