Road Crossing Patrols

Closed 8 Jan 2017

Opened 15 Nov 2016

Contact

HaveYourSay@norfolk.gov.uk

Feedback updated 26 Jan 2017

We asked

What do you think of our proposal to change our road crossing patrol policy?

You said

The vast majority of people who responded to our consultation disagreed with our proposal.

Most of the comments we received were points about specific road crossing patrol sites, rather than about the principle of using the Road Safety GB criteria to assess whether sites should have a road crossing patrol.

The most common response was that people felt our proposal would significantly increase the risk of accidents, and of a child or parent / carer being injured or killed.

You can read the findings of the consultation here.

We did

Our Children's Services Comittee decided not to proceed with the proposal to change our road crossing patrol policy. We will continue with our policy of reviewing sites when a member of staff leaves their post.

Results updated 26 Jan 2017

The results of the consultation were considered at a meeting of the Children's Services Committee on 24 January 2017. You can read the committee report and a report detailing the findings of the consultation below.

The Comittee decided not to proceed with the proposal to change our road crossing patrol policy. We will continue with our policy of reviewing sites when a member of staff leaves their post.

Files:

Overview

It is the responsibility of parents and carers to make sure that their child gets to school. The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 allows us to put in place road crossing patrols to help pupils get to school safely. You might know road crossing patrol staff as ‘lollipop’ men and women. We currently fund and manage 96 road crossing patrols across Norfolk, at a cost of approximately £270,000.

There is national guidance about running road crossing patrols, which includes criteria for assessing whether or not a site needs a patrol. When a member of road crossing patrol team resigns, our current practice is to assess the site they work at against the criteria. If the site no longer meets the threshold for having a road crossing patrol we remove it.

We don’t have to provide road crossing patrols by law, this is a service we choose to provide. The current financial challenges and reductions in our budget mean that we have to look again at all of our services. As part of our review of this service, we have monitored all 96 road crossing patrols to assess which still meet the criteria for having a patrol.

We are proposing to implement a new policy of only continuing to provide road crossing patrols at sites which meet the criteria for having one. If this policy were to be implemented, it would mean that 38 road crossing patrols would be removed. We would offer road safety awareness support to schools affected by our proposal; this would be on an ongoing basis to ensure all new starters in reception are covered.

Why your views matter

We want to know:

  1. Whether you agree or disagree with our proposal.
  2. What impact our proposal would have on you and your family.
  3. Your ideas about how we could provide the service and save money.

Areas

  • All Areas

Audiences

  • Children
  • Parents and carers and guardians
  • Young people
  • Schools

Interests

  • Children and young people
  • Education and early years
  • Traffic and transportation