New cycleway in Leighton Buzzard blasted as ridiculous and 'an accident waiting to happen'

Council chiefs have been slammed over the design of a new cycleway in Leighton Buzzard town centre.

The cycleway in Lake Street has been blasted by cyclists as dangerous because it’s been installed down the middle of the road – and against the traffic flow in a one-way street.

But Central Beds Council says it’s an example of its ‘commitment’ to supporting residents to choose cycling for their journeys – and has been subject to a safety audit.

Neil Cairns, of Highfield Road, Leighton Buzzard, said: “The council have updated Lake Street, which is currently a one-way street, though you would never know by the numbers of drivers who pull out of the parking spaces and go the wrong way, has had a cycleway added.

“Like Hockliffe Street this is against the traffic flow and runs down the MIDDLE of the road.”

Julie Potter added: “The new road layout is ridiculous, who in their right mind planned this. How long is it going to be before a cyclist is knocked off their bike by a car reversing out of a parking space?”

Dunstable town councillor, John Gurney, branded the design ‘idiotic’.

He posted on Facebook: “This is a one-way street while the roadway for cars is on the other side of the road.

“However, the local authority have used the other lane to create a two-way cycle road in both directions with the opposite direction for cyclists on the right-hand side, like continental Europe.

“If I tell you the name of this road is Lake Street, can you guess which town, in Bedfordshire it is?

“That's right, those lucky neighbours of ours in lovely Leighton Buzzard have to suffer idiotic road designs, just like us.”

A Central Bedfordshire Council spokesperson said: “Investment in active travel is a priority and Lake Street cycleway is an example of our commitment to supporting residents to choose cycling for many of their local journeys. In June 2020 we introduced some experimental changes to the road, this included the one-way system and the contraflow cycle arrangement. At the time we erected statutory road signage which clearly indicates that cyclists are permitted to use the road in the opposite direction to the traffic.

“After 18 months of operation and a safety audit, the changes were made permanent. The auditor recommended advisory lane markings to improve the arrangements and make them more prominent. To our knowledge, the contraflow system has operated without a reported incident, as have similar contraflow arrangements which have been introduced across Central Bedfordshire to aid cyclists accessing town centres and railway stations.”

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