Work began today to improve Hackbridge Road after consultants urged Sutton Council to install formal crossings following the controversial Heart of Hackbridge project.

The council is installing a zebra crossing, Belisha beacons and safety bollards near Hackbridge Primary School, with more changes scheduled for early December.

Additional works will be carried out over a two-week period where temporary three-way traffic lights will be installed at the junction between Hackbridge Road and London Road.

The traffic lights will be active until 3pm today and will not be on during rush hour. Parking bays opposite the school will be closed off between 9.30am and 3pm until the works are completed.

Sutton Council made u-turned on the project after consultants warned in March that pedestrians were at risk as some drivers "did not even notice the presence of pedestrians trying to cross" at the installed informal crossings.

Last summer Sally Blomfield, area renewal programme manager for Sutton Council, said:"The Heart of Hackbridge has been designed with the Department for Transport using a model they've used elsewhere.

"Clutter has been removed, the road has been raised to pavement level and the aim is to encourage pedestrians to feel ownership of the space."

But in October this year, an eight-year-old boy was hit by a car when walking across the informal crossing outside R K Pharmacy with his mother.

During the scheduled works Elm Road will be closed at the junction with Hackbridge Road and will be converted to two-way traffic. Parking will also be suspended along the road.

Overnight works to remove the informal crossings will be carried out between 9pm and 5am on Wednesday, December 9, and Thursday, December 10.