Two petitions calling for Maidstone’s roads to be made safer have been handed over to the borough council tonight.

A spate of near misses and a prospective spike in housing numbers have led to Brunswick House Primary School and Lib Dem politicians creating their respective campaigns.

Samantha Barnett, deputy head of the primary school, is calling for a zebra crossing, or a crossing patrol officer, to be put in Leafy Lane.

It comes after five near misses involving the school’s children and a car hitting a pupil’s grandparent.

She handed over a 700 signature petition to a Joint Transportation Board meeting in Maidstone Town Hall.

Mrs Barnett told KentOnline: “We’ve been making a petition to make sure our road is a lot safer for our children to cross.

“We’ve had several near misses with our children, who are aged four to 11, being nearly run over by cars as they are trying to walk safely to school.

“We need to make sure we work together to make our road as safe as possible. Our children deserve to be able to walk to school safely.”

The Liberal Democrats meanwhile are campaigning for new road safety measures to introduced in Hermitage Lane, particularly near the junction with Fountain Lane.

Its ambitions are for a safe crossing for children at the junction where Hermitage Lane meets Fountain Lane and St Andrew’s Road.

It also calls for the surrounding countryside, in particular Bluebell Wood, to be protected from proposed housing developments and for investment in the roads to mitigate the effects of increased traffic.

Their petition has gained close to 1,000 signatures and has been backed by the Heath ward’s Cllr James Willis and Jasper Gerard, the party’s parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald.

Mr Gerard said: “We’ve a lot of residents saying they have had kids almost be run over at the junction. It’s incredibly dangerous, young kids lives are being put at risk.

“We have been focusing for a better crossing there.

“More fundamentally the Conservative council are looking to build up to 1,300 more houses on Hermitage Lane.

“With the number of extra car journeys it will make it incredibly dangerous. It’s already a nightmare.”