Lollipop Crossing Issue and feedback given to Police.

As many in the ward will be aware the lollipop crossing patrol on Church Street outside St Georges School is in danger of being removed.  Following the announcement by Derbyshire County Council to remove 35 lollipop crossing patrols throughout Derbyshire and the Church Street patrol being named as one of them, a resident and concerned parent set up an e petition which very quickly gained over 200 signatures.  A link can be found below:

https://www.change.org/p/south-derbyshire-council-save-the-school-crossing-patrol-at-st-george-s-church-of-england-primary-school-in-church-gresley?recruiter=72207589&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_content=forward&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition

There is now a 12 week consultation period taking place during which residents are advised to collate as much evidence as possible to justify keeping the patrol.

The County Council faces savage Government cuts of £157million over 3 years and such was the seriousness of the cuts that all patrols were in danger of being cut due to the lack of funding.  Some funding has been secured for most patrols for the immediate future through health funding but those patrols based on Zebra or the variants of push-button crossings are those being cut.

Whilst the patrol is based on a crossing, there are fears for safety without the patrol due to the busy and congested nature of Church Street combined with significant amounts of foot and vehicle traffic, hence the significant tide of feeling.

These issues were brought up at the Planning Committee meeting for the application for the 306 houses behind Church Street but no further measures to counter this were made.  The increase in traffic will only make this worse.

There has also been an increase in reports of overweight vehicles using Church Street again.  This issue was escalated to the Police during the Safer Neighbourhoods meeting and will hopefully be looked into.  The weight limit is 7.5 tonnes.

Other funding is being looked into in case the consultation period does not change anything though this is far from guaranteed.