Campaigners are calling on Middlesbrough Council to withdraw plans to axe the lollipop lady on a road with a history of accidents.

Earlier this month Middlesbrough Council revealed that planned cuts would see 17 primary schools risk losing their lollipop men and women as the service is slashed by more than half to make a saving of £66,000.

But with one of the services at risk of being on a road with a recent history of tragic road traffic accidents, a local councillor and a community campaigner are calling for an exception to be made in their case.

The school crossing patrol on Cass House Road, Hemlington, was deemed safe under Road Safety GB (RSGB) National Guidelines putting at risk of being removed.

In October 2014, Middlesbrough dad and grandad, Andrew Corfield, was killed following a crash on Cass House Road. His 17-year-old daughter, Alice, suffered life-changing injuries.

And in July last year, a teenager motorbike rider was taken to hospital following a crash with a car on the same road.

Cllr Jeanette Walker said the Hemlington community was united in opposing the planned cuts and asked residents to sign a petition to save Hemlington’s lollipop lady, Suzanne Thompson.

“It has been very clear from the people Nicky and I have engaged with through our petition at the crossing, knocking on doors, at public meetings and on our social media community group that feelings are running very high on this issue,” she said.

“Cass House Road is a very different road at school times with parked cars and additional traffic and as the Gazette has highlighted, has a history of recent road traffic accidents

“While we understand that the council has to make cuts, the saving that the crossings would realise is a small proportion of the millions of pounds contained in the budget.

“Consultation is meaningless unless changes can be made and as a local councillor I will certainly be continuing Hemlington’s fight to save our lollipop lady into the Town Hall.”

Nicky Walker, herself a former Labour councillor, said: “I opposed the removal of this school crossing when it was under threat when the post became vacant last year.

“And when the proposal became public this year, the community of Hemlington quickly made it very clear that they believe that we absolutely need our lollipop lady to keep our children safe.”

Mrs Walker said the crossing’s off-road path which emerges from a housing estate directly onto the road makes it dangerous as children are liable to continue onto the road in front of traffic without stopping.

She added: “While Jeanette and I hope other crossings will also be saved, we do think Hemlington is a special case and so I have this week written to the Executive Member responsible for school crossings inviting him to come to Hemlington and see for himself what a valuable role our lollipop lady plays.

“We don’t think such an important judgement by the council about schools they have ‘deemed as safe’ and decisions around child safety should be made based merely on statistics”

Speaking earlier this month, Cllr Ashley Waters, the executive member for regeneration, explained council assessments were made against “a national standard with regards to the safety of school crossing patrols”.

“Of those schools deemed to be safe, we’ve had to look at these services,” he said.

“In some areas for example we’ve got lollipop ladies staffing traffic lights which, in some instances, is not needed.”

Cllr Waters also said his administration were presenting proposals which “were originally put forward by the previous Labour administration”.

“It is unfortunate that services such as school crossing patrols need to be looked at in the long term, but that is where we are,” he continued.

Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston has urged residents to take part in the council’s consultation which he said would influence his decision-making.

To take part in Middlesbrough Council’s budget consultation, visit www.middlesbrough.gov.uk/consult