PARENTS of pupils at a Malvern primary school are up in arms over plans to axe road crossing patrols.

From September, children at Somers Park School in Malvern Link will no longer have a lollipop lady to help them cross the road.

The decision has been made by Worcestershire County Council, and at a recent meeting, parents and governors spoke against the proposal and submitted petitions.

Resident Anna Silver said: β€œThe council is proposing these cuts without having conducted any road studies of the crossings during school drop-off and pick-up times.

"It has simply selected all of the lollipop patrols at zebra and light crossings, and decided to remove them en bloc.”

Parent Alex Day handed in petitions signed by pupils and read out letters written by them.

One was written by a partially-sighted young person who cannot use the crossing

without a lollipop patrol.

Another asked why the council is spending money removing gulls from Worcester city centre, instead of keeping children safe.

Parent Andy Meakin said: "The current lollipop lady does a brilliant job at keeping children safe. She has prevented countless accidents by stopping young children from running across the road.

"Removing the lollipop patrol is putting the lives of children at risk. It is a very busy crossing and vehicles park on the zig-zags regularly, making it hard for children to see oncoming cars.”

Ward councillor John Raine said: "The decisions to cut school crossing patrol services is another manifestation of a broader pattern of questionable policy and spending priorities at the council.

"While capital spending on roads and other large-scale infrastructure projects has continued to increase, revenue expenditure on social care-oriented and community services has been the victim both of cuts in government grant and of the county's own Conservative leadership's reluctance to raise council tax to the maximum level permitted by its own Westminster government."

Cllr Lucy Hodgson, cabinet member with responsibility for communities, said: "The decision has been made to remove patrols from locations that are on or near a formal crossing such as a pedestrian or zebra crossing.

"They will also be removed from locations where there is insufficient traffic or children to meet the criteria for a patrol.

"The crossing patrol on Somers Park Avenue will be removed as it does not meet national criteria but the other patrol on the junction of Upper Howsell Road will remain."