ALMOST 9,000 people have signed a borough-wide petition in the hope to get Dudley Council to reconsider “morally wrong” proposals to cut lollipop patrols.

As part of a package of savings the council has to make from its budget over the next three years, the local authority has proposed to axe the crossing patrol costs by charging schools for the service.

However, school bosses believe their financial plans will not be able to stretch to providing the crossing funds, and now thousands of people have signed a petition in opposition to the council’s plans.

Kelly Round, governor of Thorns Primary School who has been leading the borough-wide campaign against the proposals, met with the leader of Dudley Council, Councillor Pete Lowe, this week.

She said: “It was a good meeting. We brought an army of lollipop ladies with us as, alongside the children, they will be the ones who suffer because of the council’s cuts.

“We got 8,890 people to sign the petition, either online or in paper form, which is a brilliant response, and as well as our petition, the council also received seven separate petitions from schools.

“Cllr Lowe must have been surprised about the number of people who are against it. I don’t think he expected us to have delivered such a big campaign.”

Cllr Lowe said he wants to work with schools, governors, parents and other councillors to hear their alternative proposals.

He told the News: “I’m not surprised and my view hasn’t changed, as none of us want to lose our crossing patrol staff.

“But as a council we have to make savings after losing £75 million of central government funding and this money has to come from somewhere.

“I have met with many schools, governing boards and parents over the past few weeks and I have asked them to keep up their campaigning and participate with our consultation so we, as a council, can hear their concerns and get a range of views about how to operate crossing patrols going forward.

“We want to work with them, alongside councillors from all parties, to see what alternative options could make financial sense for the council.”

Cabinet members are expected to approve the budget proposals – including the crossing patrol cuts – at a meeting at Dudley Council House tonight (Thursday, November 10), starting at 6pm.

However, Dudley’s Conservative group have said they will oppose the Labour-led council’s attempts to axe the service from the budget.

Cllr Patrick Harley, leader of the Tory group, said: “The Labour group should drop the proposal to force schools to pay for the crossing patrol service.

“After talking to many heads and governing bodies about this it is clear that they consider this measure spiteful, vindictive and morally wrong.

“The cabinet member responsible should reconsider before we force a vote through the council chamber.”

Leader of the borough’s UKIP group, Cllr Paul Brothwood said his party will block the proposals when they have the chance.

He said: “We want to make it clear that this will not happen. UKIP will block it. We must protect our front line services.

“I have had discussions with Cllr Lowe and we will not be supporting these cuts.

“There are plenty of other areas in the council where savings could be made, including councillors getting free broadband, while too much is spent on procurement as well as excessive contracts and the thousands of pounds paid to agency staff.”