PARENTS, governors and staff claim lives will be put at risk if Dorset County Council continues with plans to axe their school crossing patrol.

The crossing on the A35 outside Winterbourne Valley First School in Winterbourne Abbas was one of ten sites across the county where the council’s cabinet agreed to withdraw funding for lollipop men and women earlier this month.

The school has refused to take the decision lying down and is vowing to do all it can to challenge the proposal.

Headteacher Rachel Horne said the volume of traffic on the busy A35 trunk road and the fact the school bus drops pupils off on the opposite side of the road were among a number of reasons why axing the crossing could endanger the lives of her children.

She said: “The governors, parents and headteacher wish it to be known that we believe the decision to withdraw funding for the school crossing patrol outside the school will place children’s lives at risk and that it will be only a matter of time before a child is seriously hurt, if not killed outside the school if the school crossing patrol is withdrawn.”

Mrs Horne said she felt there had been a lack of consultation with the school and said she had raised her concerns with West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin, whom she was hoping to meet with to discuss the issue.

Governors’ chairman Stuart Heaton said cars regularly went through the red lights at the pedestrian crossing and their lollipop lady had helped prevent numerous accidents.

He urged the council not to proceed with plans to withdraw the school coring patrol.

Mr Heaton said: “We believe this decision will lead to our children and parents being put in much greater danger when crossing the very busy and dangerous A35 on which the school is situated.”

Lollipop lady Ros Atkins, who has loyally manned the crossing for 15 years, said she had serious fears for the implications if her role was to be removed.

She said: “I am very concerned about it because there are so many hazards there.

“When I started they didn’t have the lights and when they were put in I was kept on because it was still perceived as dangerous.

“It’s got worse in the last five years.”

Susan Bowman, whose five-year-old daughter Amy goes to Winterbourne Valley, said: “I think it needs to be kept, it’s a busy A road and it’s just a matter of time if there is no lollipop lady there before something will happen.”

Fellow parent Helen Dutson added: “My daughter Katie crosses the road as she gets the bus to school and they drop her on the other side.

“She just cannot do that by herself as she’s only six.

“So either they will have to re-route the bus or I’m going to have to get a private taxi.”

Certain criteria must be met

Peter Finney, Dorset County Council Cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “This decision was the culmination of several months’ hard work by a cross-party policy development panel set up to look at the school crossing patrols.

“We listened to what people had to say and agreed to retain all 51 school crossing patrols on sites which meet the national criteria.

“But in the current financial climate, we can no longer afford to continue funding the service at those sites which do not meet the criteria or which have pedestrian crossing facilities.”

A council spokesman added that the authority was in talks with the local school community and the Highways Agency to establish whether any alternative funding, such as sponsorship, might be available to continue the existing school crossing patrol service.