A CAMPAIGN launched today aims to save school crossing patrols across Wirral which face the axe as part of council cost-cutting measures.

The plans, approved after a council meeting on Tuesday, means the loss of patrols across the borough.

A sixth of school crossing “lollipop” men and women will be axed, affecting areas including Heswall, Moreton, Upton, Wallasey, Oxton, Pensby, Claughton and Birkenhead.

The council said it had made the decision as part of a raft of cost-cutting measures, and the “difficult decision” had been made after “careful consideration”.

It will save £50,000 from the Technical Services budget – £37,000 in wages and £13,000 in “equipment and consum-ables”. The total budget for the 113 school crossing patrols in Wirral is £384,100.

In a statement released yesterday the authority said: “Surveys identified locations based on numbers of pedes-trians in peak times compar-ed with the number of vehic-les travelling on the roads.

“School crossing patrol staff at sites to be removed will have the opportunity to be re-deployed to sites where perm-anent crossing patrols are required.

“The council will provide full training to schools wishing to provide voluntary staff to patrol their school crossing. Schools will also be able to pay for their own council provided patrols.”