'It feels like a sledgehammer to open a peanut' Businesses and faith groups say red route would do more harm than good for Luton's Bury Park

The council says the plans will tackle congestion, road safety and illegal parking in one of Luton’s busiest streets.

But members of the Bury Park Business Forum disagree.

Riaz Zaman, chairman of the forum and owner of Mega Mobiles for 26 years, said the council should focus on increasing parking rather than introducing restrictions.

"Sainsbury's and the football club is not enough. What people want for Bury Park is more parking," he said. "Red routes are for highways and airports, not areas where people shop. People come 50 miles because it's a community hub."

Mr Zaman believes buses are the main cause of congestion instead of parked cars.

"You've got all this traffic from buses stopping. What are you doing about all the exhaust fumes?

“There is no multi-storey car park here – the shopping centre has three. We are overlooked by the council.”

Mahamud Choudhury, owner of Cafe Grill, said delivery restrictions would make it harder for businesses to operate.

"My deliveries come between 9am and 5pm. My suppliers won't come if there's a red route."

And he said the proposed loading times were unrealistic for businesses receiving frozen goods.

Mr Choudhury also claimed a business he owns on an existing red route saw a sharp fall in weekly turnover after restrictions were introduced.

"It went from £18,000 to £7,000 a week," he said.

Sorar Alom, owner of Surma Store, said deliveries to his business arrive in the afternoon and blamed buses for much of the congestion, saying: "Buses are the cause of the problem. Traffic used to move freely, now there's a tailback whenever they stop."

Just 39 per cent of people who responded to a consultation about the plans agreed the proposed red route would improve traffic flow, 37 per cent agreed it would improve public transport journey times and 43 per cent agreed it would reduce unsafe and illegal parking.

And a council report found businesses and faith groups were far more likely than residents to oppose the proposals, citing concerns over customer access, deliveries, parking and access to places of worship.

You can read the report in full here.

A trustee from a mosque on Bury Park Road questioned whether faith groups had been properly consulted.

"The level of engagement with all faith groups is fairly patchy. I only found out about this because I invited myself to the engagement group," he said.

When asked about the red route proposal, he claimed, “It feels like a sledgehammer to open a peanut - they could target very key areas of Bury Park.”

He added the proposal would make it harder for elderly and disabled worshippers to attend services because, if approved, the red route would only allow a three-minute grace period for drivers picking up or dropping off passengers.

“There’s a lot of disabled people - they’re going to go somewhere else if they can’t park here,” he said.

“We have our own car park shared with local businesses - people think even if we stop here to drop off that’s not enough time.”

And he warned the mosque relied heavily on donations collected during Friday prayers, Ramadan and the madrassa lessons. "If there is no parking, we will not be able to sustain the mosque – we will be cut off."

He added the proposed use of Sainsbury’s and Luton Town Football Club car park’s will not work.

“We have around 90 students at our madrassa for lessons who come from Friday to Sunday; half are dropped off by parents at the mosque. For people dropping off kids to the madrassa that is a 10-minute walk; that’s too far.

“In the meeting, they came up with the idea of Brighton as a pedestrianised area, but they had parking. It would be ideal if they create parking.”

“I like Bury Park, otherwise, you will have betting shops and vape shops everywhere. I want somewhere I can get mangoes from.”

Niralla owner Shazia Mehmood said businesses had opposed similar plans for more than a decade and wanted parking improved before further restrictions were introduced.

"We've been fighting this for 12 years. They need to balance a red route with more parking," she said.

She said most of her weekend customers travel from outside Luton and warned the proposals could threaten her business.

“On weekends we have a stall outside that attracts passing trade from drivers, we can’t do that with a red route.”

Her business employs 12 people, but she warned: "If they implement a red route, within three months I will be closing.”

Luton Council’s scrutiny board opposed the plans, and urged the council to rethink the plans, and instead focus on enforcing current parking rules.

Luton Borough Council is expected to make a decision on the plans at its meeting tonight (August 3).