UP TO nine school crossing patrols are to be cut by a council to save �30,000.
Staffordshire County Council is planning to axe the patrols over the next year.
It is not yet known which schools will be hit by the road safety cut.
But council leaders today stressed that patrols will only be removed where other safety measures, such as pelican or puffin crossings, are already in place.
The council is expected to lose 500 jobs by 2013 as it looks to save �100 million over the next five years.
Council leader Councillor Philip Atkins said: "We are proposing a rationalisation of crossing patrols, while still maintaining sites in accordance with national guidelines.
"It is better that children have the skills to cross the road independently and have those skills outside of school.
"We are just doing things in a different way."
Opposition councillor Christina Jebb has failed to save the patrols despite calling for council reserves to be used to prop up the scheme.
The Liberal Democrat group leader said: "Drivers don't always respect zebra crossings.
"You cannot expect a child to cross on a zebra crossing at busy times, when they haven't got the experience to judge when they can step out into the road.
"Where you have crossings with lights there's always a gap between the time the button is pressed for the first time and other people arriving who want to press it again.
"Children are children. "Their attention might be diverted, or they could be listening to an iPod and not hear the signals they need to be aware of to make a judgment on when to cross.
"You cannot expect a child to judge the speed of traffic at a crossing."
Two lollipop ladies currently work at the crossroads outside Knypersley First School at the start and end of each school day.
The crossroads at the junction of Tunstall Road, Park Lane and Newpool Road is already operated by a puffin crossing.
Parents at the school yesterday called for their lollipop ladies to be saved from the cuts.
Wayne Lamb, aged 36, whose five-year-old son, Kieran, is in Year One at the school, said: "The lollipop ladies should stay because they have been here for years.
"I can understand what the council is thinking, but I wouldn't let Kieran cross the road without a lollipop lady here."
Joanne Bradbury, aged 21, whose four-year-old son Joshua is in the Reception class, said: "We need the lollipop ladies even if there is puffin crossing because some cars still go through the red lights.
"If Joshua was older, I would be happy with him crossing the road on his own if there was a lollipop lady but not without."
Sharon Black, aged 40, runs the school's walking bus twice a week.
Sharon, whose daughter Leigharna is in Year Four at the school, said: "Without the lollipop ladies the children might run across the road.
"I can appreciate what the council is trying to do and maybe outside a high school, where the children have more road sense, it could work, but not here."
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