Red route plan for Luton's Bury Park parked but not rejected

Measures to ease congestion, tackle illegal parking and improve dangerous junctions are part of a scheme drafted by borough council highways officers, which included an experimental red route along a stretch of Dunstable Road.

The previous Labour ruling group saw the £20,000 red route as an effective way of enforcing current traffic restrictions in the area. A red route prevents vehicles parking on or next to the kerb.

When a Liberal Democrat and Independent Alliance of breakaway Labour Party councillors ousted its then minority administration, the coalition opted to shelve the red route proposal in favour of stronger enforcement in the area.

A call-in of that decision led to a recommendation to the executive from LBC’s overview and scrutiny board to review its unwillingness to proceed with reinforcing the traffic restrictions.

Labour Biscot councillor Tahmina Saleem presented the scrutiny reference to the committee, saying: “The red route was there to only enforce current zigzags, double yellow lines and illegal parking on pavements.

“By using cameras in place already, it would ensure any enforcement is captured and this would drive behaviour change. There would be an impact assessment after three months, six months, a year and then 18 months.

“Other outcome reviews covering journey times, parking behaviour, business spend, vacancy rates, footfall, air quality, emergency vehicle access and public sentiment would accompany that.

“It was considered to offer best value for money, costing £20,000. To do that with enforcement officers would cost £700,000. We still maintain the automated red route is the best option and most cost-effective way of dealing with safety and congestion in Bury Park.”

Council leader and Liberal Democrat Barnfield councillor Amjid Ali replied: “Sporadic enforcement has produced 13,000 tickets during the past year.

“We don’t have to spend that £20,000. We need to ensure the current resource is put into the Bury Park area on a constant basis.

“The working beat of these officers is large enough to warrant two people enforcing the area, and I think that part has been missed. You’re still hanging on to the £700,000 figure, but that’s irrelevant. We’re not taking that forward.

“It doesn’t need to cost anything extra to start enforcement, as the current resource is sufficient to cover peak periods. We need to come up with a wholesome plan. It’s not just about congestion.

“There hasn’t been much said about traffic flows and what pinch points there are, which wouldn’t be picked up by a red route. We’ll look at the residential streets and parking there.

“We’re adopting a completely neutral manner. I believe we’ll emerge with something that’s quite extensive and deals with many of the issues locally.

“We haven’t rejected the red route,” explained councillor Ali, who chairs the committee. “Once we’ve had an impact assessment over a wider area, we might be happy to adjust (the current one on Telford Way) or have a red route where it’s needed.

“We need to stop playing tennis with this and ensure we implement the (highways) proposals. This report is now final.”

The committee agreed to accept two of the scrutiny board’s suggestions about bus stop layouts in Bury Park, but not to implement a red route immediately.