Burnley MP slam football closures

Plans to close down a number of major roads near Burnley FC’s stadium on match days have been slammed by the town’s MP.

Weighing in on the public debate, Oliver Ryan MP said that the proposal, which would shut the routes around Turf Moor during home games, would cause ‘utter carnage’ in Burnley.

The traffic regulation order being proposed by Lancashire County Council would see the ad hoc closure of Yorkshire Street, Todmorden Road and half a mile of Belvedere Road.

This would extend from the traffic light junction with Harry Potts Way – which has previously seen its pavements widened to encourage more people to walk to the stadium.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has previously reported on how these closures could have an impact far beyond the nuisance to motorists, with access to multiple places of worship and Burnley’s registry office being restricted by the traffic order.

Using Facebook to share that he is formally objecting to the county council’s plans, Oliver Ryan MP connected the scheme to the £6 million walking route, designed to make pedestrians’ journey to the stadium safer through several changes that frustrated drivers.

Mr Ryan MP said: “From the brains behind Town to Turf – more traffic chaos!

“Lancashire County Council (LCC) have come up with another cracking idea to block up our town and cause utter carnage (and I’m not even talking about the temporary traffic lights on Westgate… or the project that must not be named I’ve objected to for two years [Manchester Road].”

The MP for Burnley, who won his seat at the 2024 General Election, also pointed to concerns raised about the match day traffic scheme that are being raised by religious leaders in the area and across the wider county.

Priests and even the Bishop of Blackburn have expressed their opposition to the plans, with Bishop North calling them ‘incomprehensible’, and warning that the closures could leave the two churches on the affected roads “struggling to function”.

People on the three roads affected by these closures, which will effectively be random as they will be decided by a designated match day official, first learned of the major change from notices placed on lampposts, with only a few of those directly affected receiving a letter in the post.

County councillor Maheem Kamran has been meeting with concerned members of the public and dropping off consultation letters herself.

She is even demanding that Lancashire traffic bosses engage more households in their consultation on the plans.

However, this request was refused.

“I think this is not fair on the people of Burnley and it’s not fair on their views, which are the most important as they are the people who actually live here,” Cllr Kamran said.

However, with the public consultation closing July 3, people in Burnley do not have long to share their views on the traffic regulation order on Yorkshire Street, Todmorden Road, and Belvedere Road.

Defending the proposal Matt Townsend, director of Highways at Lancashire County Council, previously said: “Crowd safety is of paramount importance, and has always been at the fore of robust arrangements for access and egress at this location since 2012.

“However, operational changes to match day management have required the existing arrangement to be updated with minimal changes to what has been in place since 2012.”

He went on to add: “Any road closure for this reason would last from a maximum of two hours before matches until one hour afterwards, and for no more than eight hours in any given 24 hours.”

Responses to the planned traffic rules can, which can be viewed here, should be sent to tro-consultation@lancashire.gov.uk quoting the reference: LSG4/104438/AFR.

Burnley FC have not provided a response to questions about the proposed traffic order.