RESIDENTS should be safer thanks to a new community-built bridleway.

The High Elms Road bridleway, in Downe, allows horse riders, walkers and cyclists to avoid using the road.

The third-of-a-mile route passes through farmland and fields from Downe Recreation Ground to High Elms Country Park.

Countryside projects officer Ewa Prokop said: "It provides a valuable off-road link with the added benefit of encouraging exercise and the enjoyment of Downe's beautiful rural setting."

Children from Downe Primary School, High Elms Road, Downe, and Newstead Wood School, Avebury Road, Orpington, planted a hedge as part of the project.

The council's countryside management service and volunteers helped to layer the roadside hedge along the route and build entrances.

The bridleway was opened on Monday by ward councillor Peter Bloomfield and was funded by Transport for London, Bromley Council and the Bromley Bridleways Access Group.