‘USE £5m TO SAVE CROSSING PATROLS’
Call for cash to be spent on threatened service
OPPOSITION councillors are calling for £5 million of windfall funding to be spent on saving school crossing patrols.
Staffordshire County Council is set to withdraw funding for all of its 248 crossing patrols as part of the authority’s budget cuts for 2019/20.
But the county council is now set to benefit from being part of a Stoke-ontrent and Staffordshire business rates retention pilot next year.
Under the scheme, councils will get to keep 75 per cent of business rates collected in the county, up from the current 50 per cent.
This could generate an estimated £13.26 million in 2019/20, including £5.2 million for the county council.
Labour councillors say some of this one-off funding should be used to support the crossing patrols.
Cutting funding for the patrols is expected to save £540,000 a year, with total savings of £35 million needed in 2019/20.
Labour group leader Sue Woodward said: “Labour is now calling on the Tories at the county council to spread a little Christmas cheer and reverse this unpopular and potentially dangerous decision.
“This extra £5m of income should now be committed to saving our lollipops.”
Labour Stoke-on-trent North MP Ruth Smeeth, whose constituency includes Kidsgrove, also believes the funding should be spent on the crossing patrols, along with a new sports centre for the town.
She said: “Our children’s safety is paramount, and I’m quite clear that losing this service would put that at risk. It is now clear that despite previous claims of poverty, Staffordshire County Council will have enough money from business rates to reverse these vicious cuts.
“They should also set aside some of this cash to deliver on their debts to the people of Kidsgrove and get started on the new swimming pool and sports facility the town needs.”
Nearly 7,000 people have signed a petition calling on the county council to maintain its funding for the crossing patrols. Campaigners say the cuts will hit road safety and put children’s lives at risk.
Council leaders have suggested the patrols could continue with funding from schools or parish councils, but there are fears that in many areas money will not be available for this.
Helen Fisher, cabinet member for highways and transport, said the authority would ‘think carefully’ about how to use the windfall cash.
She said: “The Business Rates Pilot is welcome and will help to some extent, but we are faced with an overall shortfall of £35m in funding next year largely due to our record spending on care for the elderly and vulnerable children. As we have already reduced our own running costs by £240m over the past nine years we have had no choice but to look at savings across some non-statutory areas, including school crossing patrols.
“We all know they do a wonderful job, but we do need to look at how they can continue to be funded.
“Although this is still a proposal, one option would be for us to offer the management, training and uniform of patrol with communities providing the funding. This has already worked well in parts of the county and is something we think could be replicated in other areas.”
The public consultation on the council’s budget proposals, including the crossing patrol cuts, will continue until December 31.