TRAFFIC could be banned from streets surrounding 11 Edinburgh primary schools in a move to improve pupil safety.
An exclusion zone for cars would be introduced around them in the mornings and afternoons, when parents are most likely to drop off or pick up children.
The proposed city council-backed scheme aims to reduce traffic congestion around school gates and persuade more pupils to walk and cycle to lessons, rather than being driven by their parents.
However, a report on the proposed initiative warns of a number of potential pitfalls, including insufficient community support, non-compliance by motorists and no change in parental behaviour.
As a result, the council has invited representatives from Police Scotland and Transport Scotland to join its School Streets Steering Group to advise on how the scheme could be enforced.
The move, which would exclude emergency vehicles and local residents, follows a similar initiative in East Lothian in January - believed to be the first of its kind in Scotland.
Cars were banned from roads around two primary schools in Haddington to tackle a minority of parents who were driving or parking irresponsibly.
An Edinburgh City Council spokeswoman said: "The pilot schemes will prohibit traffic on streets outside or around school entrances at specific times of day.
"Doing this creates a safer, more pleasant environment that promotes travel to school by walking and cycling.
"Further benefits for the whole community around the school, including residents and businesses, would include reduced congestion and decreased levels of air and noise pollution."
Lesley Hinds, the council's transport convener, added: "We were delighted with the level of interest from schools right across Edinburgh, so we wanted to make sure we extended the pilot scheme to as many school communities as we could."
Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said the similar scheme in East Lothian had been supported by parents.
She said: "Although it is not the only answer to traffic issues around schools - since it inevitably moves traffic to other streets - when it is combined with approaches such as walking, buses and bike and scooter routes, it can make a big difference to the journey to school for children and their parents.
"Safety around schools is a major issue and many parents look to their local authority to take decisive action to help keep their children safe.
"We hope parents in Edinburgh will think through and make their feelings known about these proposals."
A spokeswoman for the Edinburgh branch of the National Parent Forum of Scotland said parent councils and schools had asked for the schemes to be introduced so the issues raised were unlikely to be contentious.
The proposals will go before members of the council's transport and environment committee for approval at their meeting next Tuesday.
If the plan is given the go-ahead a consultation will be held in the 11 school communities affected next month.
The first primaries included in the pilot scheme are Duddingston, St John's, Abbeyhill, Colinton, Sciennes and Cramond.
Towerbank, St Peter's, Clermiston, Bonaly and Buckstone will follow next year.
If the committee agrees to proceed following the consultation, implementation could begin by next August, with the second phase starting a few months later.
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