A NEW cycleway has been installed on a busy road to improve the safety of children travelling to and from a Purbeck school.

Dorset County Council has provided the brand new 3km-long marked cycleway along the old Dorchester Road between the Bakers Arms roundabout on the A35 and Upton.

Highly visible cycle logos will mark the road and new signage is also being put up in the first of a range of safety improvements for students cycling to and from Lytchett Minster School.

Stuart Clark, headteacher at the school, said: "This is great news for the school.

"The pedestrian and cycle access to the school has long been difficult and the plans proposed here really will make all the difference to hundreds of students."

The safety team hopes that the scheme will eventually be extended in two more phases to provide a continuous cycleway from the school's existing cycle storage area to the edge of Poole.

Robert Smith, Dorset County Council's network traffic safety team leader, said he hoped the new cycle lane would encourage more pupils to take to their bikes and reduce traffic entering and leaving the busy site during the school run.

Dorset county councillor Fred Drane said: "I am very pleased Dorset County Council has found a solution to implement a cycleway from the A35 Bakers Arms roundabout to the two mini roundabouts in Upton.

"I hope it will be fully used, with safety being the byword."