Four school patrols dropped in council budget cuts

The lollipop lady outside the Eye School has temporality been reinstated until a new zebra crossing is installed

A city council will stop funding four school crossing patrols despite criticism from parents.

Peterborough City Council announced earlier this year plans to cut school patrols in five locations - Eye, Old Fletton, Newark Hill, Topmoor way in Paston and Werrington to save £39,000 a year.

Parents submitted a petition to the council to save the patrols in July, yet the council maintained that alternative safety measures were in place at the schools.

Cabinet members will meet on Thursday where it will be recommended that they uphold the original decision, although patrols will remain at the Paston Riding School which does not have alternative safety measures.

Newark Hill Primary School in Eastfield Road, Werrington Primary School in Werrington, Eye Church of England Primary School on Eyebury Road and Old Fletton Primary School in Fletton High Street, will lose their lollipop patrols as per the authority's recommendation.

A petition started by Werrington mum Nyree Chamberlain calling to save the local school patrol received more than 550 signatures

Kerri Deboo, a parent from Werrington, presented a petition with about 550 signatures to a full council in July which called for the patrols to be saved.

She said: "Every morning and afternoon, young children step off the pavement, school bags on their backs, trusting the world around them to keep them safe. Without crossing patrols, that trust is misplaced.

"The advice given to the cabinet, by officers' own admission, is driven purely by budget. Yet the savings at stake are a drop in the ocean – dwarfed by the risk faced by children navigating fast-moving traffic simply to reach their classrooms."

The council has temporarily reinstated the school crossing patrol service at Eye Primary School until a zebra crossing is installed by a housing developer as part of a nearby development.

This came following a separate successful petition from Katie Berry, a mother from Eye.

A cabinet report stated: "In Church Street, an existing proposal to change the speed limit from 30mph to 20mph is in progress. In addition, there is the option to upgrade the crossing signage to include flashing lights.

"For Eastfield Road, due to the higher volumes of traffic and with support from ward councillors, the council will now be installing a signalised pedestrian crossing to support children and parents crossing the road.

"In Fletton, there is a signalised pedestrian crossing to the west of the school crossing patrol site at the London Road junction."