Will Leighton Buzzard residents be properly consulted on future of pedestrianisation?

Pedestrianisation of the High Street is once again a hot topic in Leighton Buzzard as politicians demand answers as to whether the public will be properly consulted on the future of the scheme.

Liberal Democrat Town Councillors claim that Central Bedfordshire Council will decide in March whether to continue or terminate the current temporary pedestrianisation of the High Street "without any proper consultation exercise".

The Lib Dems allege that they have "unearthed" this plan, and say that it will leave "shoppers, parkers, the disabled, High Street businesses, emergency services, and bus operators" without a say.

Councillor Steve Owen claimed: "CBC intends to rely on some moth-eaten surveys done previously for other purposes, and some unspecified 'engagement events' – and they are paying consultants to find out whether the temporary pedestrianisation has had a 'positive effect' – whatever that means.

"In April 2022, once the decision has been made, CBC is proposing to hold a detailed consultation exercise over whether the High Street should be pedestrianised.

"So they are going to make the decision on pedestrianisation without asking anyone what they think, and once that is done, they plan to hold the consultation we have been calling for."

The matter was due to feature at a meeting of the town council yesterday evening (September 27), but was removed from the agenda.

It had proposed that the council request CBC to conduct a formal consultation with residents after March about the future of pedestrianisation, and that the Town Council should consider financial support up to a maximum of £20,000 to help with the exercise.

Cllr Owen told the LBO that the Liberal Democrats had "welcomed the decision" to remove the item from the agenda and that the "u-turn" came after councillors "unearthed" the CBC plan.

However, Cllr Steve Jones, leader of the Town Council, said: "It [the plan] wasn’t ‘unearthed’. It arose from meetings with CBC officers and a presentation from Highways. It remains the legal position, either terminate it or extend it so that fuller consultation can take place.

"I agree with the item's removal from the agenda. Leighton-Linslade Town Council officers pointed out a few things about it - we were jumping the gun. Until we know a few more outcomes it was premature.

"We want to know what the £20,000 is going to be used for. We're not going to pay CBC for what it should be doing, or what it is already doing."

Commenting on the traffic order, Cllr Jones told the LBO: "The ETRO is what we're under at the moment. It was brought in specifically for Covid and runs out in March 2022. At the moment CBC are gathering evidence on the effect that it's had.

"The traffic order can be renewed after March 2022, which would then allow for a full decision; do we go back to how it was before, leave things how they are, or have some form of hybrid operation?

"They [CBC] will either not extend it, or extend it so a proper consultation can be done. They can't do anything meaningful before March 2022; there literally wouldn't be time.

"They don't need a consultation to extend the ETRO, but they need to extend it to have a proper consultation [about whether to pedestrianise the high street permanently]."

Central Bedfordshire Council is currently investigating the impact of pedestrianisation. It is due to hold an economic appraisal from October to November and a stakeholder engagement from December to January.

Cllr Jones added: "If you want my personal opinion, I'd like to see it [pedestrianisation] stay in some form or another. We should not go back to how it was before Covid. It's a much more pleasant area, and it takes the risk out of the High Street.

"However, we need to take into account the parking ramifications - we're losing short term parking spaces. We have to do something about that. But the disabled parking spaces have moved up to the old fire station and there are still some in Church Square."

A Central Bedfordshire Council spokeswoman said: “No decisions about the future of Leighton Buzzard High Street have been made.

"We pedestrianised the High Street in response to the Covid pandemic to increase safety, and last week we attended a meeting where we discussed the current traffic order that is in place with the Town Council.

"The current arrangements in the High Street are covered by a piece of legislation called an Emergency Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO), which comes to an end in March 2022. Therefore, we need to decide whether to extend, amend or remove the Traffic Order. Before we make a decision, we are keen to hear people’s feedback and are planning engagement events so residents and businesses can let us know their thoughts.

"We will also be looking at data from our benchmarking survey, economic appraisal of the impacts of the Traffic Order and the feedback we have received since the changes were put in place.

"Whilst there is a decision to be made on removing, amending or continuing the arrangements via the Traffic Order by March, there will be an opportunity for us to consult on a different proposal with residents after March.”