Lollipop patrol to be introduced in St George’s Road

On Wednesday 3 October 5-year-old Hichame Bouadimi was killed when he was hit by a lorry in St George's Road as he and his mother made their way home from Charlotte Sharman Primary School.

At council assembly on Wednesday night Cllr Adele Morris (Lib Dem, Cathedrals ward) proposed a motion sending councillors' condolences to Hichame's family and friends and pressing for road safety improvements on St George's Road.

"There are three primary schools on that road and a secondary school – and we have the Imperial War Museum and a major park and sports facility," said Cllr Morris.

"Simon Hughes and I attended a meeting on Friday evening after school with representatives of all the schools and local residents. Clearly they are very distressed about the road ... It is a very busy road.

"The parents raised lots of issues, most of which are related to Transport for London and are being dealt with separately, but the one thing they asked for is whether they can have a lollipop person as soon as possible just to reassure the parents and the children who are all incredibly nervous now about crossing this busy road – understandably so."

Cllr Morris went with a delegation of parents on Wednesday morning to meet Labour council leader Peter John and transport cabinet member Barrie Hargrove.

Seconding the cross-party motion, Cllr Hargrove praised the "very informative and very inspiring" presentation he had heard from the mothers of Hichame's classmates.

"Many of us first heard of this call for a school crossing patrol attendant through contributions to the SE1 forum, but it was the campaigners who passionately and persuasively told us about the need for this," said Cllr Hargrove.

"The good news is that on Monday we will have a school crossing patrol attendant at that location.

"It will calm the nerves of the children, make them much more reassured and I think this is a very good solution."

Cllr Hargrove added: "Speed on our roads and speed on TfL roads has to be slowed down. We really do need to cut speeds.

"If there is a legacy for Hichame Bouadimi, Ellie Carey and all the other unecessary deaths on our roads, it has to be that speeds on our roads of our cities are cut.

"We will be taking this forward as a council to say that 30 mph on our roads is too much and we want those speeds cut."