NEARLY £500,000 of road and path improvements will start in Redditch on Monday following parents' concerns about children's safety.

Four schemes are being planned as part of Worcestershire County Council's Safer Routes to School initiative.

The biggest, costing £250,000, will see central refuges and pinch points installed along the bus-only Park Way, Church Hill Way, Winyates Way and Matchborough Way.

The measures will slow down and stop 57 and 58 buses overtaking.

Traffic calming measures, including speed bumps and cushions, will also be placed in Feckenham Road, Headless Cross, after concerns from Walkwood Middle and Vaynor First school parents.

The £100,000 scheme will also see a zebra crossing put in near Tennyson Road.

Another zebra crossing and extra signs and lights will be installed in Church Hill, Beoley, to aid children at the village's first school.

The final scheme will see a widened path connecting Greenlands and Lodge Park under the Warwick Highway. Improved lighting will also be fitted on the path, which leads from Harport Road to Deer Barn Hill.