WORCESTERSHIRE county councillor, Gordon Yarranton, has sought to reassure parents the authority is committed to improving road safety for schoolchildren in Wolverley and plans have already been drawn up.

Both Wolverley High School and Wolverley Sebright First School will take on more pupils when the reorganisation from a three-tier system to a two-tier system takes place in 2007.

In a Shuttle/Times & News story, former Wyre Forest district councillor, Nigel Addison, said Worcestershire County Council needed to take action to improve routes to the schools, as he feared there could be safety problems because of the increase in pupil numbers.

Mr Yarranton, however, said he wanted parents to know that the county council and Wolverley and Cookley Parish Council had been looking at the issue for three months and a consultation process was under way.

He explained: "We are fully aware of the number of children that are coming into the school in 2007. We have been talking about this for some time.

"Everybody wants to know their kids are going to school safely.

"All I want to do is let people know that we are dealing with it."

He said improvement schemes drawn up by the county council included a new pedestrian gateway and footway to improve pedestrian access to and along Blakeshall Lane.

The footpath alongside Blakeshall Lane from the village towards Wolverley High School would also be widened to 1.8 metres and in the grounds of the high school there would be road markings for the coaches.