Councillor's plea for city bus lane rethink
BBCA councillor, who has long campaigned against bus lanes in Preston, has written to the county's authority begging for a rethink ahead of the cameras being switched on next week.
Bus lane cameras have been installed on the westbound part of New Hall Lane near the junction with London Road, to give priority to buses and bikes 24 hours a day.
Labour's Suleman Sarwar said it was a "vital artery" linking to the motorway and the bus lane would disrupt traffic in the wider area but the council had "failed to listen".
Lancashire County Council previously said the scheme aimed to "improve public transport journey times" and "timetable reliability". The BBC has contacted the council for further comment.
The bus lane cameras are due to be activated on 5 February, making it the ninth bus-only restriction in Preston.
The most controversial of those has been the Corporation Street bus gate which has seen drivers pay out more than £3.7m in fines since June 2024.
Sarwar, Preston councillor for St Matthews, said he had carried out his own survey of local people, with 94% of 540 respondents saying they believed the bus lanes should be scrapped altogether.
He said he believed the cameras were being set up for "financial gain" and that "someone thought, 'we've made so much money on Corporation Street bus lane, let's see what we can get out of this'."
Lancashire County Council has been asked to comment on Sarwar's claims.
Sarwar said he believed the bus lane on New Hall Lane was going to cause more problems than it solved.
"It's ultimately a failure to listen," he said.
"New Hall Lane isn't just a minor sized street, it's one of the main arterial routes into Preston, it links the motorways, the cities and schools, what happens on this road has an effect across the whole area."
The council is warning drivers about the changes on New Hall Lane ahead of the switch-on.
Reform UK County Councillor, Warren Goldsworthy, said: "We are giving motorists a short grace period to get used to the change and we won't initially be issuing fines.
"Please be aware of the change and follow the correct route using the clearly displayed signs."
In May 2024, former Conservative county councillor Rupert Swarbrick told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that New Hall Lane had been identified as "a location where the carriageway was wide enough so that a bus lane could be constructed, while maintaining a two-way carriageway for general vehicles".
He said the bus lane would "allow public transport to move more seamlessly through the junction, allowing buses to bypass congestion and cut journey times".
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