Schoolchildren's lives could be put at risk if Oxfordshire County Council refuses to pay for lollipop ladies to help them across busy roads, it was claimed today.

The council has pledged to spend more money on pedestrian crossings after receiving 18.5m from the Government in January for transport initiatives.

But now some lollipop ladies are facing redundancy on March 31 because councillors do not think they are worth the 8,180 it costs per year to pay them.

Maria Sweeney, headteacher at St Thomas More Primary School in Kidlington, described the imminent loss of a lollipop lady on a service road parallel to the Oxford Road outside her school as "very dangerous". She said: "An accident is going to happen one day if someone is not there to protect the children. It is a very busy road with a very narrow pavement. A tremendous number of children from our school, Gosford Hill School and West Kidlington School, all use that crossing.

"It would be a very dangerous thing if the service is removed. The school governors are extremely concerned about this and one of them is doing work to convince the county council to keep our lollipop lady."

The other crossings the county council is refusing to fund are outside Dr Radcliffe's Primary School in Fir Lane, Steeple Aston; Bloxham School in Banbury Road, Bloxham; and at St Mary's Primary School in Warwick Road, Banbury.

Pressure from parents prompted Cherwell District Council to take over responsibility for paying for the lollipop crossings when the county council cut funding for them three years ago. But the district council's funding runs out on March 31 and the county council, which is responsible for paying for lollipop patrols, is refusing to pick up the bill.

David Moores, a strategy officer with Cherwell District Council, said: "We were in a difficult position because we wanted the crossings to continue, but we do not expect to continue funding them next year after having done so for a few years."

John Crossley, the county council's parking and school crossing manager, said that the lollipop crossings were not needed.