Dozens of under-threat schools crossing patrols have received a stay of execution - although many are still set to face the axe come April.

Norfolk County Council voted in 2014 to cut funding for school crossing patrols by £150,000 a year for two years, but currently still pays for them at almost a hundred locations.

In March, the council agreed to only support road crossing patrols which meet national thresholds as laid down by safety experts - which would see an estimated 40 of the 97 across the county disappear.

A group of councillors was asked to consider which sites should lose their lollipop men and women, and which should continue, with cuts due to be made in this financial year. The sites affected have not been named.

However, a paper to yesterday's Children's Services Committee proposed delaying cuts until April 1, 2017.

It said: 'This is in recognition of the potential for additional risk to children of road traffic incident during the winter months and to enable us to develop and deliver a programme of Road Safety Awareness events for schools that will be affected.'

Green councillor Richard Bearman said: 'The right thing to do is to delay the implementation until the spring.'

However, councillors also noted the Children's Services Department, which is already forecast to overspend this year, would not now make the savings from cutting the patrols that it had expected in the current financial year.