Lollipop ladies and men are facing the axe as school crossing patrols become the latest victim of town hall cuts.
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All of Manchester's 156 crossings have been placed under review as council chiefs face the prospect of cutting the service's budget by 80 per cent. Of those 60 have already been abandoned.
Crossings are being rated according to the level of risk: red, amber and green - high, medium and low risk. Not every patrol will go but it is understood there may not be enough cash to keep on lollipop men and women at all of the high-risk sites.
Parents are urging highways bosses to reconsider and have accused them of putting their children at risk.
Council leaders say they are determined to keep on as many patrols as possible and insisted that children's safety is 'paramount'.
It is understood that parents have been asked to volunteer and schools asked to fund the service.
Bosses say they have to cut the amount they spend from £1m to £200,000, unless they can find money from elsewhere.
Thirty-six crossings, classed as low risk, have already been discontinued because wardens have either retired or accepted voluntary redundancy as part of town hall job cuts. A further 24 crossings, which had not had regular cover for some time, have also been scrapped. Remaining staff have been re-assigned to higher-risk crossings.
The review could see even more axed.
Officers are in talks with headteachers to secure alternative funding and options being explored include asking schools to 'top-slice' their own budgets to fund patrols.
The council is not legally obliged to provide crossings and an email seen by the M.E.N. – sent to one concerned parent by a town hall manager - explains that the 'free' service schools have been used to will cease unless they can pay for it themselves.
Parents have also been asked if they would volunteer but too few have put themselves forward to make it a viable option, the M.E.N has learned.
It is understood to cost around £6,000-a-year to run a patrol, including town hall management and insurance costs, with most lollipop wardens employed for 10 hours-a-week.
John Hannaway, a governor at St John's RC primary school, on Chepstow Road, Chorlton, also has three children at the school – Joseph, 10, Sadie, seven, and Patrick, five. He said: “We fully understand the cuts have come and it's no particular fault of the council but we do believe this – putting our children at risk - is the wrong way to save money. It is a knee-jerk reaction and we're not happy with it.”
Mr Hannaway, of Dartmouth Road, said he had not been consulted on the plans either as a parent or governor and added: “My ten-year-old walks with his friends each day and I can only allow him to do that because of the safety of the crossings.
“Traffic is an absolute nightmare around here; I can't think how they would cross without the patrols.
“A lot of parents have come to me as a governor and we've sent a letter to the leader of the council making a bid for some common sense.”
Decisions about which crossings will be cut will have to be reached by the middle of next month in order for council highways bosses to balance the books in time for next year's budget.
Coun Paul Andrews, the council's executive member for neighbourhood services, said: "The council has been forced to cuts its budget by £109 million this financial year, rising to £170 million a year next financial year following our budget settlement from central government.
There is, inevitably, less money available to us for road safety promotion and school crossings patrols.
"In considering the way forward for our school crossing patrols, children's safety remains our paramount consideration. All crossings where patrols are currently operating have funding in place until the end of March 2012 and we are determined to retain as many as possible beyond that.
"While it is not a statutory responsibility for either schools or the council to provide school crossing patrols, we have a joint obligation to ensure children can travel around the city safely. We are still in discussions with schools about identifying alternative sources of funding and expect to be in a position where we now how much funding is available for patrols by mid-December.
"At this point we will be able to give a definitive picture. Until then any speculation is unhelpful and potentially misleading.”
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Two unrelated facts need puting together.
They want parents to volunteer to look after crossings.
The council employed crossing wardens are insured.
Parent volunteers would be uninsured ?
So we are now going to put our childrens live's in danger in order to save money? If they go ahead with these cut's, then I suggest that schools set up a crossing volunteer group between the parents and have a rota system where the parents man the crossing's!
Politics eh?
if they do the cut backs and take the lollipop people of are roads, we should between 8 and 9am and 3 and 4pm at schools, is block the roads, so its safe for are children to cross, most drivers these days are so keen to get were they are going they don't think or care what danger they are posing, its already happening in Stockport, lollipop people not getting replaced, are local school as started a petition up
in most cases i would say no. these are vital as safe crossing for children on busy roads.
there will be some that can be cutback on though. there are several in oldham that used to be just the crossing person but have had puffin or pelican crossings positioned in the same place. but the crossing person has remained in place. why?
What you also need to save is the Road Safety Department, which has now been all but broken up to 'save money' - what about saving lives? These dedicated people who visit children of all ages in schools and clubs, along with adult groups to name but two 'users' are now being cast out into other jobs whithout any thought to how this will affect our kids. Road deaths have been dramatically reduced over the last few years, how will the council react when the number starts to go back up?
Since they changed it so that lollypop men/ladies used pelican and zebra crossings, they made them next to useless anyway. When they stopped traffic in places you could not do so yourself they were very useful to schoolchildren.
They whine about us parents taking children to school in cars but how are they supposed to cross roads safely if we them walk to school without having school crossing patrols? My son's school is on a main road, not far from the M60 motorway at junction 23 (Ashton) if drivers do not know the area they go at least 40 off the slipway and are still doing the same if the lights are still on green, our kids have no chance even though there is a school sign (which cars and lorries all seem to ignore).
If we had more of the light-up signs which tell people to go at 20 with a camera to film them regularly flouting the law near our school or any other school in the area which is on a main road.
Saving money or a childs life, think about MCC?
THERE WILL NOT BE A FURTHER REVIEW UNTIL SOMEBODY DIES, THEN THE GOVERMENT WILL SAY IT WAS LABOURS FAULT. PATHETIC!!!!!!!!!
Listen to 5 Live today at 17:40 about the lollipop people campaign
Rather than volunteer as a lollipop lady I would like to volunteer to run Manchester City Council as the NuLabour hierarchy there have no idea about the needs of the ordinary citizens! Let's see maximum daily travel expenses for politicians limited to the cost of an all day tram & buses pass for a starter.
Out of all the cuts, this appears to be one of the worst!!!
The lollipop men and women do a wonderful job keeping our children safe. They teach youngsters about road safety as well as providing a safe route to school. My children walk to school or go on their scooters. This is only made possible by the fact that we can cross the road safely to get to the school.
My children feel so strongly about it that they have set up a petition. As we speak now they are walking around Alma Park Primary School collecting the signatures of their concerned friends and peers.
Disgraceful Labour council-
Two ways to save the money, let some of the senior council staff do their work voulnteer the do the work free of charge, as they propse this to every body else. Their over inflated salaries will ensure they will survive.
Secondly stop all fee council parking, get them off their backsides and make those who receive free parking places have to pay for the privalege or use public transport like the rest of us. That will be a substantila saviving which can be transferred to the schools budget.
Nothing better than a group of sad looking children to pull at the heart strings!
If parents stopped driving their cherubs so close to school gates perhaps we wouldn't need as many lollipop ladies and men? The glut of cars dropping kids of at Oswald Road School and St Johns is embarassing some only dropping their kids of on the zig zag lines because the adults cannot be bothered getting out of their cars a couple of hundred yards away (mind you they most probably only live a couple of hundred yards away)!
They've also disbanded the road safety team, who used to visit schools, community groups and the elderley giving talks and educating children on the dangers of the roads, whether crossing them or travelling on them. The staff are gutted about it, to them it's not just a job, it's their way of getting out there and showing kids how to keep themselves safe. Deaths and injuries on the road have been reduced by this work and now they've either taken redundancy or have been relocated within the council.
When your child is injured or, God forbid worse, remember who cut the service - your caring council.
There are surely plenty of crossings/pelicans. Do they still teach the green cross code? I only ask as i managed to get to school every day on my own without being splattered. I even cycled every day from collyhurst to Middleton . Breed some independence in your children,teach them some road sense and give them confidence.. How on earth will they manage when their parents and their taxis are gone?
I live in Oldham and don't understand why school crossing patrols are on the pelican & zebra crossings? Surely they could be put to better use elsewhere!
I guess they'll just have to suck it and see!
They are not going to cut school crossing patrols, they are playing politics. Perhaps if they hadn't paid out some of the fantastic early-retirement packages that people have collected......
I never wanted to believe that my dad stole from his job as a lolly pop man............But I came home one day and all the signs were there.
keep the 156 lolipop ladies and sack a couple of councillors, sat on their duffs pushing paper.
Older children should have enough common sense to cross roads safely without being supervised. How do they manage to get across roads out of school term?
Younger children who can't be expected to cross a road without supervision should be taken to school by their parents.
"if kids got proper road safety education in schools nowadays they would.
but they dont anymore. it seems to be ignored today" Jay B, Oldham
But the Council have cut that too after many years of having a fantastic team delivering it into schools all over the Manchester area!