THREE Harrogate schools have won funding to improve cycling and footpaths.

Funding from the Department for Transport, Links To Schools, made available through Sustrans, will create safer routes for pupils going to Woodfield Community Primary School, Richard Taylor CofE Primary School, and Harrogate High School.

Work is due to start in March on widening Woodfield Road, laying a red surface to highlight key crossing points to drivers on Woodfield Road, Poplar Grove and Bilton Lane, surfacing a cycle route between Dragon Bridge and Bilton Lane, and improvements to the footway on the approach to the existing toucan crossing at the top of Hambleton Road.