NEARLY a third of parents believe that their city is too unsafe to allow children to walk to school.

New research from Living Streets, the charity responsible for the nationwide Walk to School Week campaign this week, also found 82 per cent of parents think there should be more schemes to make the walk to school safer and easier.

Research carried out by Living Streets shows that almost 60 per cent of parents are worried about speeding cars outside of school, and a third are worried about their child’s safety because of overcrowding outside of the school gates.

This comes at a time when one in three children leave primary school overweight or obese, and just one in five children achieves the recommended daily amount of physical activity.

Living Streets is calling for local authorities in Scotland to run walk to school promotional programmes and enforce restrictions on vehicles at school gates, following a generation-long decline in the number of children walking to primary school - from 69 per cent to 51 per cent.

Stuart Hay, Living Streets Scotland director says: “The walk to school is a great way of children getting active in the morning before school. It’s easy, free, accessible and a great way for children to get some regular exercise.

“It’s essential that local authorities make all our streets, including those around schools, safe places to walk, through installing 20mph speed limits and safe crossings.

“We know that a lot of parents are put off walking to school because of high levels of traffic outside the school gates.

"The more of us walking to school, the safer conditions will be, so this week we’re asking families to give walking a go in Walk to School Week.”

The news comes as Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell launched a three month consultation on his proposed "Safer Streets" member's bill, which would lower the default speed limit in urban areas from 30 to 20 mph after an opinion poll showed that most Scots support the idea, while a quarter say the lower limit would make them more likely to walk or cycle.

Mr Ruskell said: "By bringing forward legislation I want to create safer streets so we reduce the risk for pedestrians and cyclists, especially children and the elderly.

"By cutting speeds in the streets where we live, shop and go to schools or day centres we can reduce deaths and injuries and boost public health with cleaner air.

"A wide range of interests from transport and health experts to environmental campaigners back the idea, as do the majority of Scots polled.

"I'd encourage anyone who wants safer streets in their community to respond to my consultation online and I look forward to discussing the aims of the Bill with various community groups around Scotland in the coming months."

Edinburgh has led the way with exclusion zones around schools after a pilot scheme found nine campuses involved in an earlier pilot scheme before it was introduced, it was noted that 3,179 fewer vehicles travelled along streets near to the schools taking part.

The Scottish capital also introduced the first phase of the 20mph network covering the city centre last year with more zones being rolled out over the next year.

Mr Hay said: "We know that many communities across Scotland are concerned about the speed of vehicles in their streets.

"We also know that if speed is reduced then people of all ages are more likely to walk and cycle to school, to work and for local journeys.

"Streets with low speed limits become more liveable spaces."