Cllr Mike Leddy and I turned our hands to lollypop crossing duties today (09 January 2009) on Bells Lane by Bells Farm School between 8.30am and 9.00am dressed in full lollypop person garb.

We are stepping into the breach to help after the failure of a 12 month campaign by local parents to persuade council officials that a lollypop person is required.

Bells Lane is a busy arterial route between Maypole (exit route from M42) and the road to Kings Norton. It is also the location of the school's front entrance. The school entrance used to be in Brockworth Road but was changed on the advice of city engineers to Bells Lane a few years ago when the school underwent a refurbishment and a Children's Centre was established on site. Amazingly the city engineers failed to update their records and still record Brockworth Road as the main entrance. Calculations about whether a crossing patrol is needed are thought to be based on this incorrect school entrance information.

There have been a number of accidents and near misses involving school children. The road is recognised by city engineers as dangerous and has been subject to a number of minor traffic measures over a 15 year period. There was a fatal accident just before Christmas.

The City Council argue that there is no funding and insufficient demand to justify a safe crossing. Apparently, more accidents or fatalities would increase the demand according to the way the council operates this policy.

Parents, governors and teachers have been campaigning for a safe crossing for more than 12 months but their demands have fallen on deaf ears. They have now turned to myself and Brandwood Councillor Mike Leddy who, after meeting with parents, concluded that they need to demonstrate the need for a lollipop crossing on this site by providing the service themselves.

Its pretty drastic when we have to resort to such measures to get the city to pay some attention but I'm not prepared to wait until a child is killed. We need an urgent response from the city council now. No senior officer and no senior councillor would tolerate this state of affairs if it was their child's life that was being put at risk. 

It is completely ridiculous. The council provides a lollypop patrol at one end of Bells Lane for kids going to the Oaks School but are not prepared to provide one for kids going to Bells Farm. 

Cllr Leddy said, 'I can't believe parents have been treated with such contempt over this issue. The council can find plenty of money for advertising, foreign trips and Christmas parties but they can't deal with a basic bread and butter issue like this.'

This is part of an initial 3 month campaign designed to shame the council into action and to coincide with the new financial year so that there can't be any arguments about money. The campaign will include a petition signed by all parents to the council and letters from parents on a weekly basis to the Chief Engineer.