YOUNGSTERS are unable to walk a village school because it is too dangerous.

Now their head teacher is campaigning to have a new path put in.

Most of the pupils at St Benedict’s Primary School, in Ampleforth, are driven there because the road to the school is a single track, about the width of a car, with no pavement for children to walk on.

Head teacher Michael Gallagher said: “I have spoken to the county council and they would like to help, but there are a lot of problems to overcome.

“The road outside the school is ‘unadopted’, which means it belongs to the people whose houses line it, rather than to the county council.

“If we put a path in, there is also a worry that parents might just park on the path. Added to that, the cost of the path would be so high, there is no way we could manage it within our budgets without assistance from the Government.

“Having a path outside our school would make an immeasurable difference to our pupils because families could walk to school together.”

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said: “The council is well aware of the difficulties faced by St Benedict’s, in finding a solution to providing a safe footpath for pupils coming to and from the school.

“St Benedict’s moved to a greenfield site in the 1960s on Back Lane running east, parallel to the main street, to allow for expansion and for the development of playing fields. Back Lane, which is unadopted, and has no footpath, extends beyond St Hilda’’s Walk which is maintainable as the public highway and does have a footpath.

“The school has increased its roll in recent years, with a consequential increase in traffic, and county council officials are now looking further to see what can be done to resolve the matter.”