Allotment holders in Oxford are at loggerheads with the city council over plans to close a railway level crossing because it is near a new school site.

The footpath, across the railway track at Port Meadow, has been used for more than 100 years and is the best way to get to the Trap Grounds allotments for 350 users with heavy garden equipment, many of whom are elderly.

But the city council and Railtrack are concerned that the path is near to the new site for SS Philip and James CofE School, which will have up to 440 children aged three to 11.

Council property manager Colin Beaver claimed preserving a railway footpath near a school was "inviting an accident" and that a child could be killed by a train if it was not closed.

But allotment holders have persuaded councillors to postpone a decision on closing the path at a meeting of the north area committee for a month. Officers are recommending they allocate £9,000 to repair an existing pedestrian footbridge over the railway at Aristotle Lane.

It is hoped the level crossing would be closed before the school opens, and that the bridge repairs would have been carried out by then. But this alternative access to the allotments, dubbed 'poo bridge' by local people due to the quantity of dog fouling, is steep on both sides and severely restricted in winter months by flooding.

Allotment holders warned councillors not to hit the "panic button of health and safety" before a compromise could be reached between school governors and the allotment association to create an alternative crossing.

John Bullock, a committee member of the Trap Grounds Allotments Association, claimed repairing the bridge was likely to exceed the £9,000 suggested by the council and that it was an unsuitable route for many elderly allotment holders. "Pushing a wheel barrow over the bridge is not easy to do," he said.

Mr Bullock said new housing developments with small gardens had boosted demand for allotment space in the area and the footpath closure could threaten the future of the allotment association.

He said Railtrack engineers themselves use the footpath almost every day and added that in 100 years of using the footpath there have been no accidents.

Mr Beaver said: "I know it is going to be inconvenient but this is a health and safety issue.

"What happens if you have primary schoolchildren playing on the track?"

John Goddard, councillor for Wolvercote ward, said: "I'm not concerned about the allotment holders, I'm concerned about the schoolchildren."