SANDHILLS residents have said the new-look A40 subway is a “big improvement”.

Last week children from Sandhills Community Primary School put the finishing touches on a mural which is the result of three years of work.

The colourful paintings have an ecological theme but also feature Wheatley Park and Sandhills sections.

Risinghurst and Sandhurst parish councillor Graham Drummond, who lives in Delbush Avenue said: “It looks very nice, a lot better than it was.

“The kids have enjoyed doing it and they have done a good job. It is a big improvement.”

The project started three years ago when residents and parish councillors agreed the underpass beneath the A40 was unpleasant and a mess.

Oxfordshire County Council pledged £20,000 to give the underpass a facelift, which began with the walls of the subway being resurfaced.

Then Sandhills primary teacher Emma Hunter-Lacey worked with pupils to come up with a mural design.

Painting finally began at the end of last month when students from Wheatley Park school got their overalls on and started work.

One of those was 17-year-old Tess Pierce, who said: “I think it looks good because it’s quite different from other places but also specific to our area.”

She painted the “old house” art block at Wheatley Park and another student painted the school’s Doomsday Oak tree, believed to be one of the oldest in England.

Tess added: “We had a lot of positive compliments from people who walked through.”

Their decorations also include brightly-coloured fish and other sea creatures.

On Friday the mural was completed by more Wheatley Park students and their primary school assistants.

Mrs Hunter-Lacey, 32, said: “It looks 1,000 times better.

“It looked horrible and people didn’t like using it so I thought this was an amazing opportunity. It has been a real success.”

She explained she had chosen an ecological theme after the school was granted Green Flag status as an ecological school.

It also won a national energy efficiency award in 2008.

Mrs Hunter-Lacey added: “I have been trying to find way of incorporating sustainability into the curriculum in a creative way.”

She said she would be “really happy” when the final anti-graffiti coating was added, which will mean that any graffiti daubed on to the designs can easily be rubbed off.