A council has won a campaign to improve road safety for schoolchildren.

Parents had raised concerns about youngsters from Hollingbourne having to cross the busy A20, a 60mph dual carriageway with no pedestrian crossing, to catch the bus into Maidstone each morning.

It was feared a child would be seriously injured or killed on the stretch between the Leeds Castle and Mercure Maidstone Great Danes Hotel roundabouts unless action was taken.

Hollingbourne parish council, whose cause was taken up by Kent County Council Cllr Jenny Whittle, wanted a footbridge, similar to Jade’s Crossing on the A249 at Detling, or traffic signals.

Now, starting from Sunday, December 4 Stagecoach has agreed that its 7.07am 10X service will be picking up Maidstone-bound passengers from the Ashford-bound side of the road, so they no longer need to cross it. It will double back on itself via the roundabouts.

The same will apply to the 7.20am service bound for Tonbridge Road schools during the week.

The road serving the bus stop, at Hollingbourne Corner, is often heavy with cars and HGVs heading for the nearby M20.

Measures to improve the safety of the road itself were deemed to be too expensive or impractical.

“Even the most sensible of kids are forced to put themselves in peril from time to time crossing that road" - cllr Bennett

Hollingbourne parish councillor Alan Bennett said: “I’m amazed nobody has been knocked over there.

“Sometimes you fear something will only be done if someone is hurt, which is the last thing anybody would want so we feel relieved about this decision and credit goes to everyone involved.

“I think everybody realised that there is a problem.

“Even the most sensible of kids are forced to put themselves in peril from time to time crossing that road.

“Hopefully this will make it safer, we just hope there are no accidents between now and December.”