A ONE-mum crusade to get a safer crossing point for a busy Chandler's Ford road used every day by hundreds of schoolchildren has ended in victory.

Mother-of-two Caroline Brown campaigned tirelessly for more than a year to improve safety on Oakmount Road where youngsters daily run the gauntlet of traffic on one of the busiest roads in the borough.

Mrs Brown, 41, of Osborne Drive, Chandler's Ford, gathered more than 1,000 signatures for a petition which she handed to the council.

Families took to the streets with a huge banner calling for safety action over a road which more than 1,600 children walk along to Toynbee Secondary, Fryern Junior and Infant and St Swithun Wells schools.

Now the campaign for a safer way to cross the busy stretch looks set for a happy ending within the next three months.

Eastleigh councillors have given the final go-ahead for three pedestrian refuges to be built.

And the local committee for the Chandler's Ford area have voted that the work should take place in this financial year.

Oakmount Road is a busy short cut between the Fryern shops and M3 and the scheme provides three refuges on the stretch of the road where there are currently none.

Mrs Brown, who has one daughter at Toynbee and another at Fryern, is delighted that the campaign has produced such a good result.

In a previous interview with the Daily Echo, Mrs Brown had vowed: "I am not going to rest until I see that road safe."

Now she says: "I think the plans are absolutely brilliant. It gives everybody a chance. There is not just one place to cross. I think it is fantastic."

Ward councillor Ernest Pullen, who backed Mrs Brown campaign, suggested that the traffic islands should be named after her.

The refuges are being incorporated into a cycleway scheme.

Cyclists will be provided with a safer route from Oakmount Road to Woodside Avenue in Eastleigh, most of it using edges of existing residential roads.

The cycleway will cross the M3 via the existing footbridge from The Copse, before following Oxburgh Close and Launceston Drive on the Eastleigh side of the motorway.