TWO years of campaigning for improved road safety along a Southampton rat-run will come to an end later this year after regeneration funding for traffic calming work was approved on Wednesday night.

However, strict conditions have been placed on securing the long-term future of the project.

A £45,000 grant for three raised junctions and five coloured surface treatments in Pennine Road, Millbrook, was given the green light at the Outer Shirley Regeneration Board meeting at Redbridge Community School.

But Southampton council bosses will have to produce a report to put before regeneration chiefs six months after the proposed September 2003 works completion date, after residents attending last night's meeting expressed concerns that it may not go far enough.

Speaking after last night's meeting, Marion Waddon, 57, a Pennine Road-based campaigner who helped gather a 300-plus signature petition demanding action, said: "I will have a glass of whisky tonight and celebrate.

"However, although we will have a traffic calming scheme, I'm not sure how effective it's going to be. I'm

worried it could mirror the one in Cumbrian Way which really doesn't slow traffic down much at all."

During last night's meeting, Millbrook Councillor Peter Wakeford had a stark warning for residents: "If you don't accept this scheme you may not get anything else. You've got to get behind it and see how it works out."

The traffic calming scheme will also enhance the planned upgrade of the adjacent section of Wimpson Lane and will enable the eventual introduction of a 20mph zone around the area bounded by Cumbrian Way, Wimpson Lane, Oakley Road, and Terbourba Way.