Green youngsters kick car travel into touch

Youngsters are being offered football training with Manchester City FC as an incentive to walk to school.

The Green Miles competition, launched by Manchester City Council, is aimed at encouraging about 19,000 pupils from more than 60 schools across the city to make greener journeys to school by walking, cycling or taking the bus rather than getting lifts.

The competition, running from March 3 until March 15, sees the council teaming up with Manchester City FC, and the winning class from each school will receive a free training session from the club's City In The Community programme.

Pupils will be given a Green Miles card enabling parents or carers to record how they travel to school each morning, and teachers will give the youngsters stickers, worth one green mile, for each sustainable trip they make.

The teachers can then use these to 'walk' their classes around a map of Britain, starting and finishing in Manchester and 'stopping off' along the way to learn about some of the places they travel through.

As well as the football training prizes for each school's best class, there will also be £1,000s worth of vouchers for the three schools with the highest number of children travelling sustainably, as well as the two most improved schools from last year.

Councillor Neil Swannick, Manchester City Council's Executive Member for Environment, said: "The Green Miles competition encourages children and their parents to consider the impact that transport choices make on their lives and to explore healthier and more enjoyable ways of travelling to school.

"Equally important is the very real and positive influence youngsters can have in persuading parents and carers to leave their cars at home."

Media contact:

Conrad Astley, tel 0161 234 4027.

About 100 Days

Manchester City Council launched Challenge Manchester - 100 Days to a cleaner, greener city 2008 on February 14 at Manchester Town Hall.

The campaign will run until 24 May 2008, featuring 100 days of intense activity all over Manchester with the first 50 days focussing on green issues - primarily waste minimisation, recycling and climate change - and the next 50 days focussing on community clean-ups, local environmental improvements and planting schemes.

The council will also be asking residents and businesses about what they want the council to do to help them minimise waste and recycle more.

Challenge Manchester began in 2004 with "Challenge Manchester: 100 Days to a Clean City", and in its fifth successful year the campaign returns to its core aim to "clean up" the city.

More information about Challenge Manchester and how you can participate appears on our website http://www.challengemanchester.co.uk/

You can also e-mail campaigns.team@notes.manchester.gov.uk

or telephone 0161 954 9000.