Emma Reynolds, Labour MP for Wolverhampton North East and Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has presented a school in her constituency with an award for their ideas about how to improve road safety.

Emma hosted the Solutions for the Planet (S4TP) national competition which links secondary schools with local businesses in the energy, utility and construction sectors to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and responsible citizens.

Schools are invited to designed products, services and campaigns that can tackle problems that communities face. For example water scarcity, landfill waste, fuel poverty, endangered species, road safety, local crime and energy consumption. The schools presented their Big Ideas to an audience of business leaders, MPs and Minsters at Westminster. Emma presented the awards to the successful teams.

The team from Heath Park School in Emma’s constituency came second. The team designed a wifi device for school ties (or hard hats on construction sites) and cars to alert drivers to pedestrians and reducing road accidents. Two other teams from Emma’s constituency were also in the finals, one from North East Wolverhampton Academy and another team from Heath Park School.

Emma said “I was delighted to present the successful schools with their awards. There were a number of inspirational ideas which shows just how talented and entrepreneurial the participants were. I was particularly pleased that a team from Heath Park School in my constituency came second, they had a very good idea that can be used to minimize traffic accidents and increase safety for pedestrians. This is such an important issue. More needs to be done to reduce road fatalities.

“I was also delighted that of the 13 teams to reach the national finals, three were from schools in my constituency. Two were from Heath Park and the other team was from North East Wolverhampton Academy.

“The competition provides a fantastic way for schools and businesses to collaborate and enable young people to engage with economic, social and environmental problems in a dynamic and entrepreneurial way,”