SCHOOLCHILDREN still have to cross a lethal stretch of a Fair Oak road more than two years after a high-profile campaign to get a pedestrian crossing.

Banner-waving villagers took to the streets to press home the need for a pelican crossing for nearly 2,000 schoolchildren who run the daily gauntlet of traffic outside the Wyvern Technology College in Botley Road.

The giant campus is also home to an infant and junior school and caters for all generations with evening classes and OAP clubs.

Pedestrians say that they take their lives in their hands every time they cross the road branded a potential death trap.

Hundreds of residents signed a petition calling for a pelican crossing in a campaign backed by Eastleigh MP David Chidgey.

Last summer villagers won their battle to get a crossing but their victory has been soured over delays in providing the pelican.

Now it has been revealed that an objection by a local resident to the siting of the crossing has caused the major hold-up.

Fair Oak councillor Philip Spearey has warned: "Every day this project is delayed children are at risk."

In an effort to speed up its installation Mr Spearey has raised the issue of the delay with Hampshire County Council's Southampton area transport strategy committee.

He said there was much disquiet locally about the failure to install the crossing which was originally approved back in the early summer.

Mr Spearey said the objection by the resident would need to be considered at a meeting of the county council which was not due to take place until the middle of the next month.

Now he is pressing for the crossing to be installed by the Highways Authority as a matter of great urgency.

In December 1999 villagers turned out in force carrying a banner emblazoned with the words "Wanted: Lights for Lives."

Protesters claimed that the road was a death trap and that it sometimes took 10 to 15 minutes to cross the road during peak periods.