CONCERNS over road safety have been raised by parents in Hatch Warren.

As previously reported in The Gazette, a 10-year-old boy was involved in a car crash in Homesteads Road, Kempshott.

This has sparked concerns around school’s in Hatch Warren, especially after Hampshire County Council issued parents with a letter saying they would not be replacing one of the school crossing patrol officers along Danebury Road near St Mark’s CofE Junior School.

The letter sent home to parents said that a survey carried out by the county council found it was not viable to replace the retiring crossing patrol officer.

The letter read: “The survey identified that this site is not justified and it is with regret that we will not, at present, be recruiting school crossing patrol officers at this time.”

However, parents believe this decision is putting children’s safety at risk.

This, tied in with the granting of the application to allow more HGV movements through Woodbury Road to the anaerobic digestion plant in Kennel Farm, Dummer, has raised concerns within the Hatch Warren community.

Rebecca Mason, whose eight-year-old daughter goes to St Mark’s said: “Parents want to allow their children to be independent, but if we are concerned for their safety it is going to be a real issue.

“There are lollipop men on the other entrance of the school, so why get rid of this one?”

The county council also approved 19 unmonitored HGV movements per day along Woodbury Road.

Hatch Warren and Beggarwood ward councillor, Cllr Terri Reid, said this will add to concerns.

She said: “We are disappointed with the decision by the county council, they just didn’t seem to want to debate the issue.

"Now we have no monitoring in place these lorries will be travelling at the speed limit and if they were to hit a child at that speed it would be fatal."

A spokesperson for the county council said: “The school crossing patrol officer at Danebury Road has recently retired. We have also reviewed the statistics for the past five years which indicate the site does not meet the criteria to have a school crossing patrol officer."