Councillors from Central Bedfordshire and Houghton Regis Town Council tonight met to hear and express comments about a proposed local area transport plan. A short presentation was made by Paul Cook, the Head of Transport Strategy at Central Bedfordshire Council.
Issues affecting Houghton Regis include:
* The route through the town and down Poynters Road is a relief road for the M1 if there is an event or incident between junction 11 and 12.
* Traffic congestion through the town during peak travel hours.
* Delay to the M1-A5 link road as the project is one of many projects being reviewed by the government.
* Higher than the normal number of residents using a car to get to work (77%).
* 42% of people don't use a bus because there is no direct route to where they want to get to.
* 2 out of 3 areas in the town are the most deprived areas of Central Bedfordshire.
* 5 deaths on the roads of Dunstable and Houghton Regis over 2 years.
* Reductions of speed to 20mph have successfully reduced traffic-related deaths and injuries in other places.
Solutions
One solution could be to create a new road from Portz Avenue to the M1 proposed junction 11A. This would have a serious effect on reducing travel through the centre of Houghton Regis.
Another suggestion was to restrict travel by lorries down Poynters Road, by channelling it through the White Lion industrial area down to Dunstable Road.
If the proposed road is built and reduces traffic in the town centre, councillors will give consideration to supporting a 20mph speed limit within the town.
Cllr Lynda Walmsley (Houghton Hall) said that presently on the High Street, there was a bus stop at a certain location that prevented cars from overtaking the buses, thereby creating more congestion in Houghton Regis. In response officers suggested that this had been intended by design, to help make the road safer.
Cllr Andrew Roberts (Houghton Hall) said it would be useful if consideration was given to improving the roundabout at the end of Cemetry Road, widening the High Street near the now vacant land on the High Street, and creating bus lay-bys.
Cllr Rita Egan (Houghton Hall, and Central Beds) said it was important that provisions will be made for disabled people with scooters to get on to local transport, and pointed out the lack of a direct bus service to Luton Airport.
Cllr Janine Dixon-Wilkinson (Parkside) said that people in the town wanted to travel to places other than Dunstable and Luton, and wanted to use direct bus services to places like Leighton Buzzard, Bedford and Milton Keynes.
Cllr Alan Winter (Parkside) said that he had given consideration to a 20mph limit in parts of the town, but as congestion is so bad, and is already travelling quite slow during peak times, there wasn't much point. He conceded that if the new road is built then it was important that the council considered what parts of the town could be restricted to 20mph.
