THOUSANDS of pounds are to be spent making the walk to school safer for a group of Darlington children.

St Bede's RC Primary School will be the next local school to benefit from Darlington Borough Council's Safer Routes to Schools programme.

The authority is to spend £40,000 to introduce safety features designed to reduce speeding and the risk of accidents on roads near the school.

Work will include the building of two, new parking lay-bys, new footpaths, a pedestrian refuge and road markings.

The school crossing patrol site on Kingsway will also be moved and safety work will be carried out at the Hercules Street, Locomotive Street, and Wylam Avenue junctions with Thompson Street East.

The project will bring the council's investment in the Safer Routes to Schools programme to more than £250,000.

Schemes have already been completed at Cleveland Terrace outside Abbey Infant School, Carmel Road North and Hummersknott Avenue, Barton Street and Salters Lane South.

Nick Wallis, cabinet member for highways and transport said: "Road safety outside schools is a priority for the council and we have made a great deal of progress in improving safety on the roads to schools since we began the Safer Routes programme three years ago."

Work is expected to start on the new scheme at St Bede's in the new year. Plans for the scheme will be on display at the school today (Thursday) from 7pm to 8.30pm. Local councillors and council officers will also be present.

A council spokesman said: "The Safer Routes to School project will continue to be funded and many more schemes will be proposed.