A LIFELINE pavement is to be installed on a danger road in Chipping Sodbury, but residents are continuing to campaign for further action.

Funds for the new pavement outside Chipping Sodbury School on Dodington Road, a busy through road for drivers accessing the Avon Ring Road, were agreed by the Frome Vale Area Forum, part of South Gloucestershire Council, following appeals from homeowners.

Cllr Claire Young (Lib Dem, Westerleigh), whose ward covers Dodington Road, said the pavement on the school side of the road would improve safety for pupils.

She said: “This is a great start to tackling the local residents' safety concerns.

“The pavement will allow people to cross where there's better visibility, away from the railway bridge.”

Residents have long been campaigning for safety measures to be implemented on the road, which pupils use to access their playing fields for PE lessons, where it narrows to a single lane over a bridge.

The 70metre hard surfaced pavement, from the school entrance, will take pedestrians to a safe crossing point where dropped kerbs will be installed Stephen Gregson, who lives on Dodington Road, appealed to the forum to help following a catalogue of accidents.

He said the footpath, phase one in a list of improvements residents want to see, would make walking along the road much safer but he said more needed to be done.

“Phase two, or some form of traffic calming to make foolish drivers who speed slow down, will be more difficult as it will be more costly,” said Mr Gregson.

“It is, however, possibly more important because of the ongoing and increasing risks to the schoolchildren going to and from the playing field across the bridge on the narrow footpath.

“If they had been there when a car turned over recently I dread to think what the result could have been.”

He added: “Let us hope that a serious and possibly fatal accident does not happen before we are able to put what measures are possible into place.”

In addition to the footpath, Network Rail is planning to carry out improvement works to the railway line including raising parapets on the bridge.

Residents fear this will lead to decreased visibility for motorists on the one-way bridge.