WORK on a long-awaited pedestrian crossing in Peatmoor will begin today after two years of campaigning from local residents.

A petition was launched in 2013 to improve road safety on Swinley Drive, which was being used as a rat run due to increasing congestion in West Swindon.

After 700 new homes at Ridgeway Farm were announced, fears grew more drivers would use the road when Mead Way became clogged with traffic.

The new crossing will be built close to Peatmoor Primary School, between the junctions for Nightwood Copse and Shearwood Road.

Greig Evenett, 38, of Peatmoor, began the campaign to improve safety on the road after a near miss while attempting to cross the road with his young daughter.

He said: “What highlighted it for me was an incident while my daughter and I were crossing the road, and a car came around the corner at excess speed and we only just had time to jump out of the way.

“That was what started my campaign to either get speed checks in the area or a recognised crossing in place.

“We never really picked up on it until we noticed every morning and afternoon during the school run, cars were flying around the corners at speed.

“The ideal place for it would be around the traffic island on the straight section of road by the shops.

“Traffic flow in the area is increasing and when they have finished building the new housing estate at the end of the road there will be more and more people looking to use Swinley Drive as a rat run. Traffic will do that, but it is the speed which is the issue here.”

Kevin Fisher, chairman of Shaw Residents' Association, said: “The Shaw Residents' Association has for some time been asking for a pedestrian crossing on Swinley Drive.

“The design of the road, with its long sweeping double bend close to the point where children cross to get to school, makes crossing problematic.

“In 2012 a parent wrote to us describing the rules of crossing Swinley Drive during peak time were more akin to ‘listen, wait, wait, wait, guess, hope and run.”

The project is expected to include increased visibility on the stretch of road, in addition to the new zebra crossing, and should take about 10 days to complete.