Council rethinks lollipop patrols axed in cutbacks
A headteacher told today of his safety fears after lollipop patrols were slashed in London council cuts.
Tory-run Barnet council has only agreed to consider the plight of the crossing patrol at Dollis Junior School two months after axing it. Pupils returned from half-term to a band of volunteer teachers, parents and former governors manning the busy road.
Head Colin Dowland said that to consider his lollipop lady's fate two months after sacking her was "ludicrous".
The patrol in Mill Hill was one of 10 axed by Tory-controlled Barnet to save a total of £117,000. Mr Dowland said: "We had 2,500 people sign our petition, which we handed in at the town hall on 14 February after a big protest outside.
I've been chasing some sort of acknowledgment of the petition ever since.
"I finally got notification that it was going to be considered at a committee on 23 June, which will be more than two months after they made the patrols redundant." He said the council told the school it could not make up the £4,000 for the patrol from its budget.
The school is in busy Pursley Road, where more than 500 infants and juniors walk to school daily. Three pupils from the nearby secondary school were hit by cars in December.
Brian Coleman, Barnet's cabinet member for transport, has previously said it was wrong for the 10 schools to get free lollipop patrols "when the other 110 schools in the borough make their own arrangements".
A council spokesman said: "Mr Dowland should have had a written response from officers confirming we had received his petition and we apologise for this oversight." The meeting considering the petition would be the budget-setting cabinet - the "most appropriate", he added, which "holds far more weight in the decision-making process than residents' forums".
In Conservative-run Bromley, parents furious over the sacking of lollipop man David Cook at St Mark's Primary School have been told to pay his salary themselves. Bromley wants to save £233,000 by cutting 50 school patrols.
