Safety for hundreds of school pupils will be improved by a new pedestrian crossing in Dorchester.

Currently, students from both Thomas Hardye and Dorchester Middle School pupils crowd together on a pavement just over a metre wide while they wait to cross the rail bridge at Weymouth Avenue – forcing anyone who wants to pass into the road.

Dorset Council is now planning to move the crossing point just under 50 metres to the south, where the pavement is wider, between the junctions of Edward Road and Queens Avenue.

The move will also mean moving the bus stop on that side of the road to just before the Queens Avenue junction.

Dorchester town councillors have welcomed the draft proposals, which will go out to public consultation in a few weeks' time.

They say the plans for the new crossing point will not only provide a safer route for school pupils, but should encourage more people to walk, or cycle to and from the town centre.

Previous research by Dorset Council has shown that many people do not walk, or cycle, into the town centre even if they are physically able to, from residential estates at Castle Park, Manor Park and Victoria Park because of what they perceive as the danger of crossing roads, almost all of them without pedestrian crossings.

Dorset Council says the proposed move for the Weymouth Avenue crossing will increase the safety of pupils, and others, who frequently cross the road at the point where the pavement is narrow, and also close to the road junction between Weymouth Avenue and Maumbury Road, making it difficult to see traffic approaching around the corner.

The new crossing point will require little changes to the road layout, and existing yellow boxes to prevent traffic entering the mouth of both Queen Avenue and Edward Road will remain in place.

The new crossing will be a puffin type with sensors that will regulate the amount of time given to pedestrians crossing, depending on the volume of traffic at the time.

A Dorset Council spokesperson said that the authority hopes to be able to confirm the start date for the construction work in the autumn, assuming its proposals are found to be generally acceptable.