CHILDREN from a primary school will take part in an event tomorrow to promote road safety and the benefits of walking.

Pupils at High Coniscliffe Primary School, Darlington, will form a giant walking bus to support national charity Brake.

The children and their families launched a walking bus project earlier this year.

Tomorrow, they will be joined from staff from Darlington Borough Council's Local Motion team to demonstrate the health and safety benefits it has brought.

The team has worked with more than 40 schools in the borough over the past five years, a period which has seen a nine per cent reduction in the number of pupils travelling to school by car.

Over the course of a year, children who walk only the last five minutes of the journey to and from school each day could burn more than 3,500 additional calories - and their parents 12,500.

Parking the car and walking those last five minutes to school would also stop about half a tonne of carbon being released into the atmosphere and make the areas around schools safer due to fewer cars on the road.

Councillor David Lyonette, cabinet member for transport, said: "With its rural location, High Coniscliffe pupils have farther to travel to school and being driven by their parents may be their only option.

"Organised walks to school like this one encourage parents to consider swapping at least part of their journey for a more sustainable method.

"Even walking this short distance to school and back will result in positive health benefits for parents and children, as well as saving families money and being more environmentally friendly."