Pupils at schools in Shipley, Bingley and Baildon will get a road-safety boost as part of a package of improvements approved by councillors.

Members of Bradford Council's Shipley Community Area Panel have agreed to approve seven schemes - which would cost a total of £135,000 - for implementation over the next 12 months.

They include developing Safer Route to School schemes on Wrose Road, Wrose, where a puffin crossing is to be installed along with waiting restrictions and street lighting improvements, as well as Thompson Lane, Baildon, and Mornington Road, Bingley, where 20mph zones will be established.

Other schemes approved include the upgrading of a crossing on Main Road, Denholme, from zebra to puffin status; footpath improvements on West Lane, Baildon; a zebra crossing at the junction of Moorhead Lane and Fernhill Road in Shipley; and measures to stop through traffic in the Oswald Street and Hope Avenue area of Windhill.

Councillors also agreed that a scheme to install traffic calming measures or close Fairbank and Annie Street at Windhill should be implemented during 2003/2004.

Meanwhile panel members agreed that a raft of traffic regulation orders - most of which cover the introduction of waiting restrictions - should be processed over the next year to ease parking and congestion problems on streets in Bingley, Shipley, Saltaire, Baildon and Menston.

Vivien Kirby, headteacher at Low Ash Primary School, all of whose pupils will be located on a single site on Wrose Road from September, said a petition signed by more than 1,500 people had been drawn up calling for improvements in the village.

She said: "I'm sure all our parents, governors and staff, as well as the wider community, will be absolutely delighted about the decision to bring about a reduction of the risk to safety."