Councillors on Shropshire border to meet over plans to drop funding for school crossing patrols

Loggerheads Parish Council is due to meet on Monday, where one of the topics of discussion will be Staffordshire County Council’s review into funding crossing patrols.

One of the crossing places that could lose its funding is on Loggerheads’ A53, near Market Drayton.

County councillor Paul Northcott said: “It is a very busy road – there are two crossings there with two operators.

“The hardworking people that operate those crossings every single school day would be sorely missed. I don’t think it is a good idea to get rid of them.”

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The council wants communities and councils across its area to apply by the middle of February to fund the services themselves.

A spokesman for the county council said: “Due to unprecedented financial challenges, the county council is facing some very difficult decisions about the non-statutory services it can continue to fund.

“With a £35 million gap in our budget, a number of proposals are reluctantly being considered, including the funding of the school crossing patrol service after September 2019.

“Our patrols do a wonderful job day in and day out and in all sorts of weathers.

“That’s why we are asking interested communities to think about if and how they could fund a local patrol.”

The meeting will go ahead at Loggerheads Fire Station on Monday night.