People Power/Media Power Wins the day

Many many thanks to the Manchester Evening News for their campaign to stop the cuts by the City Council to the School Crossing Patrol Service. The paper set up it's own easy to access on-line petition and showed that the weight of public opinion was very much in favour of keeping the service.
I have been contacted today by campaigners from Southwark looking for advice and support. Perhaps someone can persuade the Evening Standard to do for London what the Manchester Evening News has done for the children of Manchester. In the meantime please support the national petition by pressing the red button above.

Dorset County Council Has Seen The Light But Elsewhere The Battles Continue

Last week it was announced in the Manchester Evening News that the City Council are reviewing 156 crossings in an attempt to save 80% of the budget. The newspaper has launched a petition to try and save the service.
On Friday the story in the Northern Echo was that Darlington Council planning cuts to save £300,000 and

The authority’s 36 lollipop men and women received letters advising that a switch to a voluntary service was being considered.

It has been stated many times on this site that this is not a role for volunteers and it says on the Volunteer England website that volunteers should not be put in positions of danger. In the past 12 months one lollipop lady has been killed in Scotland and more than half a dozen have sustained injuries requiring hospitalisation. For more details of these incidents please look at the 'In The Press' page.

The One Show and Lollipop People

If you were unable to catch the piece that The One Show did about Lollipop People last week you can follow this  link and watch it on You Tube. We may have saved the majority of our Lollipop People in Dorset but across the country they are still under threat and this needs to be debated at the highest level. Please, sign the petition and ask your friends to as well.

HURRAY!

We have Won the campaign in Dorset and we have Saved Our Lollipop People or at least the majority of them.
At The Cabinet Meeting this morning it was decided to uphold the recommendation of the Panel that all crossing patrols should be retained and paid for except for 5 that no longer meet national criteria and another 5 that are on pelican crossings.
It is a victory for common sense and the rights of our children to be safe on their way to and from school. Special thanks to Dorset Councillors, Janet Dover, Karl Wallace and David Harris who spoke up in support of my campaign at the Cabinet meeting back in January and continued to work towards a successful conclusion.
Also thanks to Dorset MP's Annette Brooke and Richard Drax for speaking to the Transport Minister Norman Baker. Also a 'well done to us' to Liz Norman and Liz Howard campaigning from Ferndown.

The ONE SHOW Tonight

The One Show tonight at 7.00pm has a piece about the campaign in Dorset and the threat to the Lollipop People across the country. A tribute to the Lollipop People I hope.

If you have seen the show and followed the links please, please take the time to click on the red button and sign the petition to get the Lollipop People's future discussed in the House of Commons. Make democracy work for us.

One Step Closer

The campaign to Save Our Lollipop People in Dorset was one step closer to success last night as the Overview Committee voted to uphold the recommendations of the Panel that the county continues to fund all those sites that meet the national criteria. The Committee also agreed to fund the 5 patrols that were on pelican crossings.
The decision of the Committee will have to be approved by the full Cabinet on Wednesday 5th October before we can rejoice.
To read the press coverage follow these links BBC, Dorset Echo,

This is still a national issue and although many other authorities will hopefully follow Dorset's lead there is still a threat to the service and the safety of the children around the country. Please sign the petition to get the matter debated in the House of Commons.

Almost There?

Today the recommendations of the Dorset County Council Policy Development Panel (set up to look into the future funding, of the school crossing patrols service), will be considered by the Environment Overview Committee. They will then report to the full Cabinet on the 5th October. The full cabinet were originally to have met in December so we are fortunate that the fate of our Lollipop People is being decided sooner rather than later.

If you are interested in reading the recommendations this is the link but the gist of it is that the Panel recommends that DCC continue to fund the service as there in no funding available at the present time, from either schools, parish councils or sponsors. They do however, recommend that DCC do not fund 10 sites where either the crossing no longer meets national criteria or there is an alternative means of crossing safely.

I hope the glorious weather we are experiencing is making the committee feel generous and they will endorse the recommendations. The rest of the country are watching to see what Dorset will do.

What a difference 3 pence could make

Having considered that I might be asked by the One Show how the school crossing patrols should be funded, I have done a bit of calculating and worked out that for the 20,000 SCPs in the country to be funded it would cost the 31,000,000 vehicle drivers 2p more on their road tax! Seems like a good idea to me, in fact they can have 3p and pay the whole lot a more reasonable wage.

Young People and Traffic are a Fatal Combination

Anyone who believes that young people do not need help to cross the roads in this country and do not need the help of a Lollipop Person outside school should read this headline...


Five schoolchildren in serious road accidents in Birmingham in 24 hours

and reconsider their views. To read the full report in the Birmingham Mail follow this link

A letter to the Telegraph from a Council that has got it right

SIR – You report the demise of school crossing patrols (September 3). But in Leicestershire, lollipop men and women remain the stalwarts of the school run.

We at Leicestershire council want to get people out of their cars and walking, cycling or using public transport. As school crossing patrols provide security for parents and encourage children to walk to school, we’ve decided that cutting back on them doesn’t add up. A reduction in the number of these familiar faces, who help children reach school safely, may increase congestion and add to the growing health problems facing our younger generations.

Lesley Pendleton
Leicestershire County Council
Glenfield, Leicestershire

Our Cousins Overseas

Just as a point of interest, we are facing exactly the same crisis with our Lollipop Ladies as communities in America where the Crossing Guards are a 'soft target' when its time to save money. La Crosse in Wisconsin
could perhaps be twinned with Weymouth. This report from the La Crosse Tribune.

The Telegraph Newspaper

Maria McCathy's in depth piece on the history of and crisis facing the Lollipop People is now on line.

Have you heard the latest playground riddle? What's yellow, goes out in all weathers and is in danger of extinction? Lollipop people

As children are back to the classroom after the summer break, there are currently about 20,000 lollipop people – or school crossing patrols, as they are formally known – in the UK. But in the wake of local government spending cuts that number might be about to drop dramatically.
A survey by The Times Educational Supplement revealed that one in four of the 60 local authorities it contacted is planning to scale back or abolish school crossing patrols to save money.

Public Pressure May Win the Day

Brent Council is rumoured to be considering a U-turn on scrapping the School Crossing Patrols.

PLANS to cut school crossing patrols could be scrapped in Brent following a u-turn by council leaders after concerns from parents and schools.The Labour-led council will decide on whether to put the recommendation through at an executive meeting on September 19 after a consultation in May and June.

Read the report in the Harrow Times. 

The Latest from Dorset

This afternoon the Dorset County Council, Planning Development Panel will meet for the third time to decide what will be done about the school crossing patrols. The plan back in December 2010 was to cut the whole service to save money. That would mean the loss of 68 Lollipop People across the county unless schools or local councils could find the money to fund the service themselves. To my knowledge none of the schools have offered to fund the service, not because they don't believe it is vital but because they believe the education budget should be for education and spending outside the school would mean less in the classroom. Neither am I aware of any local councils or communities who have spare money to fund this. Therefore, the ball is back in the court of the County Council. Will they really put the lives of the counties children at risk to save £200,000? I certainly hope not.

An Update

The following is a summary and update on the recent School Crossing Patrol situation.

Government Petition Video

A short video by Alastair Toft detailing the cuts and the petition. Don't forget to sign it here!

Petition the Government to stop Local Authorities cutting School Crossing Patrols

The Government's e-petition service has now been set up and a petition has been accepted from Save Our Lollipop People. This is the text of the petition ...

The Government should intervene to stop Local Authorities across the country cutting the School Crossing Patrol Service, which is not currently a statutory requirement. This is a matter of national road safety and should not be decided by local authority accountants. All evidence shows that removing the service will lead to injuries and deaths to young people. In the words of Prime Minister David Cameron, (when adding his support to the UN Decade of Action For Road Safety in May 2011): “Road accidents are still the leading cause of death for British teenagers and young adults – with the loss of six or seven people in road crashes every day.” Where a school crossing patrol is in place and meets the national criteria, Local Authorities should not be able to cut the service and endanger young lives.

This petition needs 100,000 signatures before the matter has to be debated in the House of Commons. Please follow this link and sign up to keep our children safe. 

Unison Gives the Facts On Lollipop Cuts

Unison, the public services trade Union, have released a new fact sheet for members and MPs.

When you come to the end of a lollipop... POP goes children’s safety. ...

UNISON believes that school crossing patrollers, often called lollipop people, provide a vital service to the community. Cutting their short hour low paid jobs (average £3,000 p.a.) is a false economy, especially when young lives are at stake.

It details the history of the service, in addition to the reasons why these cuts are unacceptable. Click here for the full sheet.

Parents Speak Out to Protect Lollipop Ladies and Men Across Wandsworth

From This is Local London today the following report

Worried parents and children took to the streets last week outraged that the lollipop ladies and men who protect their children outside schools could be axed by the cash-strapped council.
Pupils and parents voiced their fears after it emerged the school crossing service, which costs Wandsworth Council £200,000 a year, was under threat.
It is consulting primary schools about them taking over the cost of the service, with the council proposing that it retains responsibility for training, uniforms and equipment.
Fircroft Primary School, in Tooting, has launched a Save Our Lollipop People campaign on its website and parents of youngsters at Honeywell Junior School and Belleville Primary School, both in Battersea, have begun collecting signatures on petitions.

Local MP Sadiq Khan who is a parent from Fircroft lends his support to the Campaign

 To read the full report please follow this link

Children Protest to Save Lollipop People and WIN!!!

Children in Dulwich in London have protested against the cuts to three lollipop patrols - and won. Well done those children. It proves you never to young to stick up for something you believe in. That is now four London Boroughs that are protesting, Brent, Lambeth, Wandsworth and Dulwich. Cuts by the boroughs on spending on crossing patrols coupled with cuts by Boris Johnson to the Capital Road Safety Budget. Madness. Report on BBC Newsround