WORK on a £50,000 project to resurface Birmingham Road in Bordesley is set to start within the next month, it has been announced.

The news comes after plans for a by-pass around the road were turned down again despite a long campaign from residents and several other bids to the Government.

Other traffic calming proposals, including reducing the speed limit from 50mph to 30mph, will be put to councillors in the next few weeks.

Highways manager for Bromsgrove Council, Jon Fraser, said: "We are going to resurface the road with a road surface material.

"It should make a big difference to residents. It is a modern asphalt which reduces the tyre noise.

"We are also proposing to put in a central refuge to make it safer for pedestrians to cross and we are planning to make the carriageway narrower, either by putting in a cycle path or hatching out the centre of the road."

Bromsgrove Councillor June Griffiths, who also lives on Birmingham Road, said: "The road should have a 30mph speed limit because it is built up on both sides.

"The other day I watched a child with her push-bike trying to cross. She was there for a very long time and in the end had to make a quick dash for it.

"Sometimes people take their lives in their hands trying to cross the road."

Traffic lights were installed at the junction of Dagnell End Road at the end of last year.