A safety scheme to help schoolchildren cross a busy road at Barnham, near Littlehampton, is to go ahead five years after it was first requested.

Parish councillors called for a crossing on the main Barnham Road but a check on the traffic showed it did not justify the expense.

But a fresh survey taken last April showed the situation has changed and now West Sussex County Council is to install a £20,000 Puffin crossing.

Councillors have been told the survey showed during one weekday more than 500 pedestrians crossed the road against a flow of 7,500 vehicles.

The majority of pedestrians were children aged under 16 heading to and from the village's St Philip Howard High School.

Councillors have also been told since the last survey one youngster has been injured in an accident near the spot where the Puffin is to be installed.