RESURFACING work to make getting to school easier for children in Kesgrave could get underway in April, road chiefs said today.

RESURFACING work to make getting to school easier for children in Kesgrave could get underway in April, road chiefs said today.

Grange Lane is the principal pedestrian route for pupils walking to Gorseland Primary School but parents have described it as “impassable” and “horrendous” because of its poor surface.

Although improvement works have been on Suffolk County Council's agenda for four years to no avail, today it said preparations were being made to start the work at the beginning of the new financial year. However, it warned any objections from the public could delay things by another year.

The news comes after The Evening Star revealed last month how the council is preparing to make a compulsory purchase order on the privately owned road.

Walkers described how they had to dodge huge puddles whenever there was wet weather and how many were opting to take children to school in cars to ensure they arrived with dry feet.

A spokesman for the council said the delay in starting work was because it had been waiting to coincide it with a linked safety scheme at the junction of the adjoining Dobbs Lane.

She said: “It is hard to put a timescale on the work being done. All the paperwork and planning process was done but because it was a while ago it's run now out of date so it's got to be resubmitted, we have to write to residents again and so on.

“If there are no objections it might happen as soon as the next financial year, but if there are objections it may have to go to a planning inquiry which could take up to a year.

“However, I don't think there were any objections the first time round.”

N What are your experiences as a pedestrian of using Grange Lane? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk