ALTERNATIVES are being sought to replace lollipop ladies when they are axed in April.

Possible measures include zebra crossings, part-time 20mph speed limits, signs with coloured road surfaces, vehicle activated signs or part-time electronic warning signs.

Bromley Council are withdrawing school crossing patrols to save £233,000 a year.

Officers have prioritised 20 sites for visits by the council's school travel team.

These were calculated by recording the number of unaccompanied school children crossing each site to get to school.

Anywhere exceeding 15 children has been highlighted as needing attention.

Heather Ross, the lollipop lady at St George’s Bickley, said: “I love doing my job and I worry about the kids when I’m not there.

“It’s scary to think what will happen when we are gone, it’s only a matter of time before a child gets seriously hurt or killed."

St George's ranks eighth in the list, with 29 children crossing unaccompanied.

Mrs Ross added: “The alternatives are not a substitution, a zebra crossing will not stop traffic.

“I know cuts have to be made but surely the safety of our kids should be something we should protect.”

The council's environment policy development and scrutiny meeting will meet tonight to discuss the alternatives.

Measures are hoped to be in place by the end of March.

Bromley Council's portfolio holder for environment Councillor Colin Smith said: “Councils across the country continue to face extremely difficult financial decisions and Bromley is no exception, as the much publicised central government budget cuts to local government begin to bite.

"The re-alignment to the lollipop service announced last February, although an unpopular and a very difficult decision to make is continuing to be worked through on a case by case basis with schools.

"It has been increasingly heartening in recent weeks to discover more and more schools now stepping forward to work meaningfully with the council to establish agreeable solutions for their children’s future safety."

TOP FIVE SCHOOL CROSSING HOTSPOTS

These five primary schools have the most unaccompanied children crossing to get to school.

Red Hill Primary, Chislehurst - 62 children (on zebra crossing)

Hayes Primary - 48

Perry Hall Primary, Orpington - 47

Biggin Hill Primary - 46

Alexandra Junior, Sydenham - 42