THE colourful designs of local youngsters will transform safety barriers on a busy stretch of road.

Pupils at Neville's Cross and St Margaret's Primary Schools in Durham thought the barriers the Highways Agency put up a couple of years ago on the A167, near Neville's Cross, to protect the East Coast Main Line below, looked ugly and unfriendly.

To brighten the structures, they have worked with the Bearpark Artists Co-op on designs that will be put in place in the next few days.

Sonny Douthwaite, chairman of Durham County Council's highways committee, and councillor for West Auckland, said: "The youngsters were very enthusiastic about the challenge of coming up with ideas for the bridge.

"Working with Bearpark Artists Co-op they inspected the site, measured the structure and then spent two days working on design ideas.

"The Artists' Co-op then transformed the children's ideas into a design that can be applied to the barrier."

Local Councillor Nigel Martin added: "The youngsters' work will transform what is now quite an ugly engineering structure into something with an interesting and attractive appearance and enable them to feel that their input into the local environment has real value."

The application of the children's ideas will be carried out by Service Direct, Durham County Council's direct labour organisation.

The work will be done in conjunction with the re-painting of the nearby Quarry House Lane footbridge and some structural steelwork repairs to Neville's Cross Railway Bridge itself.

* An exhibition of the children's artwork and final designs for the barriers is on display in the Durham Room at County Hall until Friday.