THERE are only 12 lollipop ladies to cover vacancies across the whole of Essex, it has been revealed.

Schools in Witham have raised concerns over the lack of crossing patrol officers in the town.

Templars Academy in Cressing Road recently lost their lollipop lady, and John Bunyan Primary School in Braintree only had theirs replaced three weeks ago.

Witham MP Priti Patel contacted Essex County Council asking why there was a lack of crossing patrol officers.

She was told there are about 38 vacancies across Essex, but only 12 mobile crossing patrol officers to cover them.

The council is not able to provide cover when a lollipop lady leaves, as there is just not enough officers to fill the gaps.

The Year 5 pupils at Templars Academy have launched a campaign to get a new lollipop lady.

The children, as part of their work in English lessons, are raising awareness of the potential safety risk.

They contacted Ms Patel, who said: "I am pleased to see the students take the issue of their safety when crossing the road seriously.

"I have contacted Essex County Council to resolve this issue and they informed me there are currently vacancies across the whole of Essex for volunteers to sign up.

"This means that the man-power simply isn’t there to cover making it the job of the local community to step-in and ensure that children are crossing this road safely.

"I am calling on local residents and parents to urgently come together, give up a small amount of their time, and put themselves forwards to receive training and become a School Crossing Patrol Officer in order to keep pupils at Templars safe.”

The children are now taking matters into their own hands.

Sarah Stevenson, head of school, added: "The safety of the children at Templars is our main priority and we are looking for solutions to try and solve our current problem of our long serving and well respected lollipop lady leaving us.

"We have contacted various people in the council for advice and help but as yet have received no effective solutions because of a lack of personnel.

"I am extremely proud of our Year 5 children who have taken on the job of launching a campaign to try and raise awareness to solve the problem."

Essex County Council said they were in the process of advertising the Templars Academy position.