CARS are set to be banned at drop off and pick up time at 21 more schools across the city.

Glasgow City Council has identified schools where car-free zones will be introduced to provide extra space while Covid-19 restrictions are in place.

Zones will not be in operation when children return to school later this month but are being “processed relatively quickly”.

The schools are not being revealed by the council until headteachers are informed and community engagement can begin.

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One councillor has warned a car-free zone trial in his ward has been “a complete failure in every sense”.

The plan was revealed by Councillor Anna Richardson, city convener for sustainability and carbon reduction, during a full council meeting.

“This work is currently in progress,” she said. “It will bring a number of benefits, including increased physical activity levels for our young people.

“It will also reduce congestion around the school, and air pollution as well.

“Officers are working hard to ensure this will be a shorter process than normal, and therefore should be processed relatively quickly – only once schools have bedded in for the new term.

“We want to make sure that happens smoothly before we begin the work on implementing these schemes.”

A trial of car-free zones began at six primary schools across the city in August last year.

They were introduced to improve road safety, and reduce harmful emissions, outside Bankhead, Broomhill, Hillhead, Lourdes, Our Lady of the Rosary and St Blane’s primary schools.

Temporary pedestrian areas are in place in the morning and afternoon when pupils arrive and leave school. Anyone driving in the zone is at risk of enforcement action and a £50 fine.

The zones were introduced under temporary traffic regulation orders (TROs) and Green Party councillor Martha Wardrop asked whether they would be made permanent.

Councillor Richardson said an update to councillors on car-free zones had been “a casualty of the pandemic”.

“The pilots are being evaluated, the interim results are positive,” she added.

“They have been a success in many ways and I’m very keen we do everything we can to learn from those.

“There may need to be some changes made to the schemes before we go into a permanent TRO.”

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Labour councillor Jim Kavanagh said: “Unfortunately, within my ward, Our Lady of the Rosary school has been a complete failure in every sense.

“Surely before we roll out to further schools, we make sure we get this totally right, so we are going forward in a positive manner with a tried and trusted programme of traffic regulation.”

Councillor Richardson said funding is “available from the Scottish Government to enable us to make changes quickly on the ground”.

“The six pilots are still under temporary orders. We are continuing to evaluate them and the remarks that the member makes should be captured in that evaluation.

“The Spaces for People ones are again under temporary orders and, if we see that things are not as we would like, they can also be amended very easily.”

Spaces for People, a Transport Scotland-funded scheme, has allowed measures to enable physical distancing, including widening footpaths and creating cycling routes, to be rolled out across Glasgow.