Rat-runners are set to be targeted in a residential area following a successful petition.

A total of 243 people signed a petition calling for measures to prevent people taking short cuts in the Fishponds Road and Broadwater Road area in Tooting.

Wandsworth Councillors on the Strategic Planning and Transportation Overview and Scrutiny Committee voted for the proposals at a meeting yesterday.

The measures will be implemented for a trial period, following a consultation with people living in the area.

Concrete flower plots are to be installed at designated sites on a temporary basis in Kharma Road, along junctions of Fishponds Road as well as the end of Lingwell Road and Morven Road.

The planters will act as a physical barrier preventing drivers taking short cuts through the area from Garratt Lane and Upper Tooting Road.

Drivers living in the area can still access the roads using a different route.

A Wandsworth Council paper said: "Placing "temporary blocks" in the carriageway would require signage, lighting and advanced warning of a road being closed to through traffic so that drivers can decide on the route they need to take."

Jon Irwin, of Fishponds Road, came up with the idea after becoming fed up of traffic in the road.

He said: "These kind of changes result in safer streets which give people the chance to travel by foot or by bike.

"The only way of doing it is by giving it a go.There is a lady who lives on Fishponds Road and on a daily basis she will have someone crash into her wall.

"Her wall has been rebuilt on a regular basis because people are driving too fast and won't have control on the streets."

The trial is expected to begin in summer.