'Bury Park is a crown jewel' says Luton councillor in row over proposed red route

A reference from the local authority’s overview and scrutiny board suggested scrapping the idea and opting for more robust enforcement of current parking restrictions in the area.

A vote to pause the £20,000 project, while providing more parking and bus stop lay-bys, was backed by a one-vote margin.

Portfolio holder for public realm and sustainable transport and Labour Farley councillor Javeria Hussain told the board: “The proposals have been in discussion since last year.

“Bury Park is a crown jewel and one of our thriving hubs,” she explained. “It’s all of our responsibility to help and put in measures which support that.

“There have been many complaints around safety, including obstruction of footpaths by illegal parking and the loading and unloading of vehicles, difficulties for vulnerable people crossing the road because of illegally parked vehicles and junction layouts, erratic and careless driving, and difficulties for emergency vehicles to access roads when lives could be at risk.”

Conservative Poets councillor Aslam Khan was disappointed at the lack of “a special financial package for the infrastructure improvements”, saying: “Your solution to improvements is £20,000.

He warned about parked vehicles being displaced, if the red route trial goes ahead. “You’re hell-bent on putting a red route there, which isn’t acceptable.

“We need a complete redesign of this proposal. Removing the choke points and putting in proper crossings and moving bus stops into lay-bys should be done first.”

LBC’s highways project design and delivery manager Kieran Franzen replied: “More than half of the people who responded mentioned (pedestrian and traffic) safety concerns in Bury Park, which is something we can’t ignore.

“We’re not putting in further restrictions. There are already double yellow lines. The parking activity in those areas is illegal currently. We’re trying to enforce better on the current illegal practice, with cameras on the red route allowing us to do that.

“Displacement will happen, so we’ll review controlled parking zones and the impact it has on residential areas. The extra parking at Hazelbury Crescent will support this through the agreement put in place (with the football club).

“We don’t know how far that displaced traffic will go. But that’s the whole reason of having a trial so we can monitor that and react to it properly.”

Labour Saints councillor Ghulam Abbas said: “Health and safety has to be the number one priority.

“That’s not just accidents. Blue light services need to get through to emergencies and along roads. The red route could improve that.

“We had two or three lanes (each way) until someone decided to extend out the pavements, reduce it to single carriageways in each direction and not have bus lay-bys.

“Increasing it to two lanes might be a better option. I don’t know what the middle bit does. It’s eating up plenty of space and it’s dangerous. It’s been about 20 years since Bury Park had any investment.

“I’m glad the parking is likely to be provided quickly, but I think we need to phase in the red route. Why can’t we do something like the town centre nighttime economy task force for Bury Park?” he asked.

“There are opportunities as the football club moves out of this area.”

Council leader and Labour Biscot councillor Tahmina Saleem confirmed: “All we’re doing is enforcing current restrictions.

“The Bury Park business forum suggested it’s parking that needs to be provided. We’ll monitor it along every stage because we can’t allow the businesses to be affected.

“That’s one of the most thriving streets in terms of commercial activity in the whole of Luton. It’s not been impacted. It’s just growing and set to grow. We also want to put the community at the heart of this.”

Structural changes cannot be implemented until October or November at the earliest, subject to executive approval next week.