A long-running campaign to make a North Oxford street more pedestrian-friendly is set to bear fruit at last, with work due to start this summer.

Since 2002, artist Ted Dewan, of Beech Croft Road, Summertown, has been leading efforts to get traffic calming measures in the street.

He and other residents began their campaign after a child in the street was hit by a car in 1999.

In 2007, Mr Dewan and his neighbours highlighted their ideas by painting the road surface and covering it with picnic tables, potted trees, and chevron car parking to narrow the road.

Over the past seven years, there have been various arts events in Beech Croft Road to highlight the dangers of cars speeding in residential streets.

The county council allocated £30,000 last year to rebuild the pavements, and work will start in a few months.

Mr Dewan, 48, the creator of the award-winning Bing Bunny children’s books, said: “This has been a long time coming, but the residents’ association has now agreed a plan and submitted it to the county council.

“We’re working with the county and city councils to put the pedestrian back at the centre of Beech Croft Road.”

Among the traffic calming measures planned is a cycle rack made from antique metal. The speed limit was cut to 20mph last year, along with a number of other residential streets in the area.

Liberal Democrat city and county councillor Jean Fooks said: “The vast majority of residents in the street want this scheme to happen, and I hope that work on the pavements will start in July or August. The county council will now look at the scheme in detail to make sure it can approve it as a formal road design.”

As a result of the campaign, Mr Dewan was approached by Bristol-based Sustrans, the transport charity behind the National Cycle Network.

Beech Croft Road has beenchosen as one of 11 streets nationwide for Sustrans’s pilot DIY Streets scheme, which helps residents re-design their own streets affordably, and making them safer and more attractive places to live.

Earlier this month, the city council’s north area committee pledged up to £16,000 towards the project.

All capital projects are currently frozen because of budget pressures at the council, but Ms Fooks said the money would come from next year’s area committee budget.