Edinburgh councillors have rejected plans to cut crossing guard posts at 17 city sites, despite some not having had a crossing patrol in over 20 years.
Officers had put forward a report asking that councillors cut the posts due to the difficulty of hiring staff for the locations, many of which have not been staffed for 15 years.
One site, in South Morningside, has not had a crossing patrol since 1999.
But councillors instead asked for work to be done to explore options for making the roles more attractive.
A report was presented to councillors at Thursday’s Transport and Environment Committee meeting.
Liberal Democrat councillor, Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, said: “We accept there may well be reasons why some locations that have historically had crossing guides are no longer a priority, but the driver behind this proposal is that the council has struggled to fill these vacant positions.
“If that’s the case, it is our view we need to look at why that is, and we need to look at our recruitment processes, how they can be improved, whether some of the terms and conditions, hours and so on are still fit for purpose.”
Gareth Barwell, the council’s executive Director of Place, told councillors that there were options that could be explored to hire more crossing guards.
But he said that any pay increase would have to be linked to the crossing guards also taking on additional work during the day at schools.
At present, crossing guards are contracted for twelve hours a week, earning about £24,300 per year.
He said that the “bespoke” hours worked by crossing guards harmed the attractiveness of the roles.
Councillors also agreed to hold a workshop where options for recruiting crossing guards for these locations could be explored.
At present, the council employs around 150 crossing patrol guides at sites around the city.
By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
