Work began to improve Lock Lane on Saturday after companies based in the street volunteered to share the cost of surfacing the road.

But concerns were raised in September that a walkway needed to be created for children walking to Woodloes infant and junior schools through the industrial estate.

Woodloes Infant School acting headteacher Janet Clough said parents and teachers had spoken to her about Lock Lane after Warwick town and district councillor Elizabeth Higgins raised the issue.

Mrs Clough said: "People did express their consternation that it is a dangerous road. There are no markings at all to indicate a walkway. It is an accident waiting to happen."

Speed humps and a separate walkway are due to be added in coming weeks.

Coun Higgins, who spoke to 26 families using the road on one day this week, believes it is vital for the work to take place as soon as possible.

She said: "It is now easier for cycles and prams, but it is also faster for heavy goods vehicles and cars. The children are in greater danger than they were last week."

The road is owned by Warwick District Council and Coun Higgins (Con, Warwick West) was due to ask for measures to be taken at its meeting on Wednesday.

But when she came to speak, she said work had already begun and praised "serendipity" - and the actions of officials and companies in the street.

There will be a greater number of pupils coming to the site from September 2009 when the Ridgeway Primary School moves to premises beside a merged Woodloes infant and junior school.

But the popular route may not be an official 'safer route to school'. Warwickshire County Council is responsible for the routes and a spokesman explained that a new route has been proposed avoiding Lock Lane and instead leading through nearby Lower Cape Road.

Although the plan is still in the 'administrative' stages, he said this would be created "sooner rather than later".

He added: "Obviously safety is the priority. That is the route the county council will be advising parents and children to take."