Matt’s Twitter
Matt’s Facebook
The county council are refusing to change their policy on not allowing a school crossing patrol at a light controlled crossings, such as outside Perdiswell School. This is despite the evidence of parents viewing them as safest for their children.
The likely result will be that some parents will stop allowing their children to walk to school, thus creating more traffic on the congested roads in the area.
I am working with highways officers looking at ways to improve the safety of Bilford Road at school opening and closing time. But nothing will be as good a solution as having the SCP back.
Lollipoppers still guardians of the school crossing | Churchill UK
churchill.com
Research by motor insurance specialists, Churchill Insurance, identifies lollipop men and women as the safest school crossing option according to parents and childrenMore bus services being cut by First.
Details of the proposed cuts by First.
Please join us...
Litter pick tomorrow. We're meeting at Lansdowne Park at 10:30am. Finish at noon and have a drink at The Chestnut. Sounds like a plan!
These are the 15 schools in the county that will be losing their school crossing patrols (Lollipop person). The rationale for this cut is supposedly not cost savings as it only costs about £3000 per year per SCP. Rather, it is because central government policy has changed and it is deemed unnecessary duplication to have a SCP if there is zebra or light controlled crossing.
Two of the schools to lose their SCP are in the St Stephen division, St Barnabas and Perdiswell.
I am very concerned about the negative impact this will have. Losing a SCP will reduce safety, even with a crossing in the area. Certainly many parents will perceive it as being less safe. As a result, some will no longer let their children walk or cycle to school and will instead drive them to school. As a result, we will have more cars, more pollution and more unhealthy children. How can this be squared with the council's responsibility for public health?
If a school wants to keep their SCP, then I will do what I can to ensure that they are retained.
This policy change seems completely pointless to me: Tiny amount of money saved; reduction in safety of children; probable increase in pollution. congestion and childhood obesity.
Bus journey numbers fell by nearly 12% in Worcestershire last year and have fallen 35% from 2011 to 2017.