Here’s the latest on the campaign for a safe walking and cycling route between Arundel and Ford

Council leader Shaun Gunner was presented with the petition, signed by hundreds of residents, last month and shared the news at a meeting of the full council on Wednesday (November 10).

Mr Gunner said: “I was delighted to accept the petition and we’re going through the verification process at the moment.

“We just checking that we have exactly the right number of signatures to be able to come to full council.

“I know that we’re working with [Arundel] town council to ensure that happens.

“We’ll be having a full debate on this when it does come – hopefully – to full council in January.”

A campaign to fight for the pathway along Ford Road was launched early this year.

It saw more than 50 community leaders, including the mayor of Arundel, sign a letter to West Sussex County Council leader Paul Marshall and the then Arun District Council leader James Walsh stressing the need for its installation.

There is no secondary school in Arundel and some 300 teenagers commute to school, many using the train from Ford.

Parents worried for the safety of their children resort to driving them to the station or all the way to school – which adds up to hundreds of car trips per year.

Campaigners say most of these could be replaced by bike rides if a safe passage to Ford station was made possible.

The busy Ford Road, without pavements or lighting, links Arundel with Littlehampton and Bognor Regis, and a host of smaller hamlets.

Council rules say petitions have to be signed by 1,500 people to be debated at full council.