THE number of school crossing patrols in Torfaen will be cut, the council’s cabinet decided yesterday.

Following a review, 19 of 40 sites in Torfaen were found to meet the national criteria set out by Road Safety GB and will remain.

But 21 school crossing patrols will be lost and none of the 17 lunchtime operations in the borough will remain.

Those to be removed are: Ponthir Church in Wales Primary, Caerleon Road; Victoria Primary, Cwmavon Road; Victoria Primary, Lower Harper’s Road; Croesyceiliog Primary, Edlogan Way; Croesyceiliog Primary, The Highway; Pontnewynydd Primary, Limekiln Road; Pontnewynydd Primary, Leigh Road; Cwmffrwdoer Primary, Waunddu; Cwmffrwdoer Primary, Chapel Road; Cwmffrwdoer Primary, Zion Hill; George Street Primary, Fowler Street; Pontnewydd Primary, Maendy Way; Maendy Primary, Porthmawr Road; Our Lady of the Angels RC Primary, Commercial Street; Garnteg Primary, Hillcrest; Pontymoile Primary, Blaendare Road; Blenheim Road Community Primary, Fairhill Zebra Crossing; Croesyceiliog Primary, The Highway; George St Primary, Penywain Road; George Street Primary, Osborne Road; Kemys Fawr Infants, Elm Grove.

The review was carried out in-line with the School Crossing Patrol Service Guidelines produced by Road Safety GB.

It is estimated the changes will save the authority around £65,000 a year.

The executive member for neighbourhood services, Cllr John Cunningham, said: “Travel habits have changed in the 18 years since our current crossing patrol service was established, and some sites have seen a big decline in the numbers using them. Other crossings have benefitted from improvements to layout and infrastructure, making them safer for children to cross the road, and more than three million has been invested in creating safer walking routes across Torfaen in the last seven years.”

The review measured the number of pedestrians and volume of traffic at each site to determine whether a crossing patrol was justified.

Ten of the forty sites have been vacant due to a lack of applicants and the council is looking at redeploying some employees.

lA list of the changes can be found on the Torfaen council website, www.torfaen.gov.uk