Okehampton residents are celebrating the completion of a new footpath and zebra crossing on Crediton Road following a years-long battle to improve pedestrian safety in the area.

The new footpath stretches from St James Primary School to the roundabout at the bottom of Crediton Road with the new zebra crossing just to the west of Fort Road. They were completed just days before the start of the new school year and now provides a safe walking route and crossing point for schoolchildren and their parents.

Residents had previously been forced to walk in the road or face crossing the busy road, known to be a speeding hotspot. Residents and councillors had frequently voiced concerns that this could result in a serious accident one day.

West Devon borough councillor Tony Leech, who had long campaigned for a pathway along the bottom stretch of the road, expressed his delight, saying: “For me, seeing someone walk on the path for the first time was good. It was really heartening to see streams of children and parents using the pedestrian crossing and footpath. There is now a safe place to walk and cross the road after all the years of us campaigning.”

But Cllr Leech said there was more to do, including extending the footpath west to create an unbroken stretch of pavement into the town centre, creating a safe pedestrian opening from Broom Park onto Crediton Road and completely removing the ‘Berlin Wall of Okehampton’, which divides Kellands Lane.

Currently, pedestrians wishing to take a shortcut from Broom Park to Crediton Road has to squeeze through a gap in the hedge and slide directly down the bank into the road.

Last year, a landowner put up a wall across Kellands Lane, blocking a route used by parents to take their children to school.

A vigilante bulldozed through the wall to create a pathway, but fencing has since been erected. The borough council has ordered the obstruction to be removed but the landowner is currently appealing the decision.