Armed with a stick shaped like a lollipop, a fluorescent yellow jacket and a rosily smiling face, lollipop ladies and men are an inherent part of British communities. For more than 60 years our loveable "lollipops" have been keeping roads safe for children coming to and from school.

But in the New Mills vicinity of Derbyshire in the North West of England, the future for this affable part of society looks bleak. In a bid to make budgetary cuts of £157 million ($250 million) in the next few years, the local Derbyshire County Council recently wrote to the lollipop ladies and men – officially known as School Crossing Patrol – informing them that their jobs could be in jeopardy.

Where is the logic in attempting to claw back deficits by removing such a vital, traditional and low paid job from the local community?

That was the responding sentiment of the School Crossing Patrol, staff at the schools, and parents in the New Mills area when they heard the news. Outraged and dismayed about the prospect of losing their jobs, three ladies working as School Crossing Patrol at Thornsett Primary School launched a petition and put the Derbyshire council letter on railings close to the school for the public to read.

In just a couple of days, the petition was signed by large numbers of parents and other members of the community who are equally anxious not to see this important feature of the school abruptly abolished.

Linda Hall is a 66-year-old School Patrol officer who for six years has been helping the children of Thornsett Primary cross the road and get safely to and from school. She spoke of the irony and irrationality of the proposed job cuts.

“The government is trying to encourage children to walk to school but you can almost guarantee more parents will drive their children to school and they’ll be more cars on the roads if no school crossing patrols are present,” said Hall.

“Thornsett Primary School might be in a rural location but the crossing patrol staff here have a lot more to contend with than just cars. We have farm vehicles, milk wagons, runaway sheep and dogs. The children’s safety will be seriously threatened without us.”

Amanda Lomas-Cox, 31, has been working at Thornsett Primary School on the crossing patrol for almost a year and said she is very worried about the prospect of losing her job. Her mother, Denise Mills, is a lollipop lady at New Mills Primary School, assisting children across an extremely busy road for the past two years.

Like her daughter, Mills is shocked the council is considering removing such an important safety measure in the community. And what’s more, due to Mills's spinal problems, school road patrol is the only job she said can realistically do.

“Take this job away from me and I won’t be able to get another,” she said.

Free School Dinners but no School Road Patrols?

In an attempt to save this long-standing tradition of the school community and maintain the safety of their children, a group of local mums are now planning a series of local protests.

One of the mothers involved in the campaign is Liza Coop, who has two children at Hague Bar Primary School in the New Mills vicinity. Indignant that the safe admission to and from her children’s school may no longer be assisted by road patrol, Coop noted that the government is meanwhile giving free school meals to four- to seven-year-olds while making budgetary cuts that threaten their safety.

“They’re giving free school dinners but axing essential safety school procedures. Where is the sense in that?" said Coop. "It makes you worry what they are going to cut back on next.”

Ashley Parry, headteacher at Thornsett Primary School, is equally concerned. “We recognize that DCC need to make cuts and this process is not easy. However, School Crossing Patrol provides an extremely important service: the safety of children and families, including those younger siblings who are yet to start school," she said.

Additionally, the lollilop ladies represent "the friendly first point of contact before children get to school, and encouraging children and their families to walk to school. Many of our School Crossing patrol team have been members of our school communities for significant periods of time – they are key members of staff, and their removal has serious effects throughout the community,” said Parry.

Citing alarming statistics – there are more than 1,000 collisions every month involving children within a 500-meter radius of schools – the headteacher continued that it would “only be a matter of time before a child in our locality was added to these statistics without School Crossing Patrol to keep them safe.”

Undermining Environmental Messages

Derbyshire County Council supports the international Walk to School Campaign. On its website, DCC highlights how walking to school promotes a “healthier lifestyle and a better environment.”

DDC states that increased use of the car during the last 10 years has led to concerns about safety, health and the environment. It also talks about how the 1998 Government White Paper on Integrated Transport puts particular emphasis on national initiatives to “encourage more children to get to school other than by car.”

Not only that, DDC proudly declares that during national Walk to School campaigns it encourages children to "travel smart," by making their school journey by bicycle, car share or public transport. Each year, Thornsett Primary is involved in a Walk in Bus program, where children are dropped off approximately a quarter of a mile from school and walk the remainder of the journey.

As Linda Hall testifies, the scheme works well and the program helps portray the environmental, health and lifestyle benefits of walking to school. But without her and others safely helping children cross the road, parents are likely to be concerned about the safety of their children. Headteacher Parry is also concerned that axing lollipop ladies and men will increase car usage and counter environmental messages.

“Many parents will feel an increased anxiety about their children getting to and from school safely. It will inevitably lead to a greater uptake of car journeys," said Parry, which "will further compromise the safety of those getting to and from school as well as undermining the messages we have been giving the children about the benefits of walking the journey.”

The School Crossing Patrol Act of 1953 made lollipop men and women the only profession, other than the police, to have the power to stop traffic. In 2001, School Crossing Patrols were authorized to help adults cross the road as well as children.

Derbyshire County Council might be under pressure by the government to save £157 million in the next few years. But removing indispensable service of lollipop women and men will save little money – and at what price?

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