Children from a Bradford primary school have been given an important role helping Bradford Council with the re-designing of a major route into the city.

The youngsters have taken part in a consultation about a main route in Manningham and their thoughts will influence improvements in the area.

Pupils at Lilycroft Primary school, in Oak Lane, looked closely at the street.

The 75 children wrote down their ideas and took photographs.

Their work was part of a project called Revitalising Communities on Main Roads project. It is led by Bradford Council in partnership with Transport 2000, a lobbying group trying to get people out of cars and reducing road casulaties.

One of the youngsters who took part, Prateek Rayasam, nine, said: "We went round Oak Lane and looked at the car parking available in the area.

"Some naughty people had parked very cars very badly and it is dangerous for pedestrians who are trying to cross the road".

Adil Iqbal, ten, said: "There was a lot of vandalism in the area and lots of graffiti which makes things look horrible. I think the people who do it should be made to clean it up.

And Safura Said, ten, said: "There was a lot food on the floor and empty take-away cartons. This will encourage rats to the area and also makes it look very untidy, I think there should be more bins and that people should use them". Lilycroft primary teacher Alan Robinson said: "The project is part of the children's geography work and we have linked it up to include work about the environment in which they live and go to school in.

"It has given them a real focus to their work and made them feel like they can really made a difference and that their opinions matter."

The children involved will be giving a presentation to Bradford Council in June about their findings. Street audits for the project have also been carried out with businesses, residents and women's groups.

Project manager Fiona Limb said: "The response to the leaflet drops, public meetings and the street audits has been very positive. It shows that local people really do care about their area and have made a lot of useful suggestions as to how to improve them." Work on the street audit started in March and a report has outlined some of the recommendations. The report highlighted issues such as improving ways to cross the main road, re-laying pavements, re-surfacing roads and new street lighting.

The Transport 2000 scheme in Oak Lane is one of only seven pilot schemes in the country. Work to improve the area will take place over the next two years.