Haverhill in Suffolk agrees to fund Lollipop Poeple

It has started - the dividing up of the country into the 'have's and the have not's'. Haverhill Town Council in Suffolk has agreed to fund their school crossing patrols to the tune of £9,000 in the event that the rumour that new County Council Leader Mark Bee will not be fulfilling his initial promise to find county funding for the service. Why should the children in Haverhill be safe when other children in the county are put a risk because their local borough cannot find funding. For coverage of the story follow this link.

Suffolk Lollipop People May be Saved

Suffolk County Council have appointed a new Council Leader, Mark Bee.

Within hours of being elected as the leader of Suffolk County Council on Monday , Mark Bee pledged to save school crossing patrols and slow down the divestment of waste sites and libraries.

For more details follow this link

An Update

This week I spoke to the Road Safety Officer at Suffolk County Council where they are on 90 days notice with no ongoing consultation to offer any hope. My sympathy goes out to the council officers and Lollipop People and I sincerely hope that 3 months down the line I will not be reading about the first young child injured or killed as a result of these cuts but I fear that I will.

I have written to Mr Pickles this Week because as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government surely he has an interest in watching out for those communities that will be devestated by children being killed as a result of the Local Government actions. I have also written to Ms Eagle the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport to see if there will be a bit more support on that side of the House.

This is a quote from the PACT report that was mentioned a couple of weeks ago...

‘There was a strong feeling expressed by many participants in the PACTS

research that central government’s role should be to lead. Central

government has a privileged panorama view, and it needs to use this

position to co-ordinate and advise. Power can be decentralised, but

overall responsibility cannot be abdicated.’

I wholeheartedly agree with that last sentence. I just wish I could find someone who wanted to take overall responsibility before the children start being hurt.

An interesting development elsewhere is road safety - In Oxfordshire speed cameras that were switched off to save money last year are being switched back on because more people are having serious accidents and dying! Let's hope we don't reach the serious injuries and death stage in our campaign.