Police to have greater presence by Bury St Edmunds McDonald’s due to drivers ignoring pedestrian zone

The long-running problem of drivers flouting pedestrian zone restrictions in Bury St Edmunds town centre is said to be getting ‘much worse’ – and there are fears someone could be hurt.

A Well Street resident took this picture of several cars in the pedestrian area at the side of McDonald’s in Brentgovel Street, at the top of Well Street, on a Thursday evening last month – but they say it is a regular, if not daily, occurrence.

Speaking of their concern for pedestrian safety, the resident, who asked not to be named, said: “Lots of my neighbours are getting on or there’s families with young children and all it takes is for a child to let go of their parent’s hand and whizz across what is a pedestrian street and there’s someone whizzing along.”

She added the problem of driving and parking in the zone had been going on for many years and seemed to be getting worse, and added how the delivery drivers could become aggressive with pedestrians.

“I have had people honking and shouting at me ‘get out of my way’,” she said.

The issue was raised at the last Bury Town Council meeting by Cllr Cliff Waterman who said he was getting lots of complaints from residents and ‘the situation is getting much worse than it already was’.

He said he had been waiting on Suffolk County Council, the highways authority, for a number of years on traffic calming measures there.

Plans are still taking shape for planters – that the town council agreed to fund in 2021 - which, while not being able to block access, it is thought could deter drivers from entering the zone.

Town Clerk Jodie Budd said they were waiting on confirmation as to who would maintain the flowers in the planters.

A Suffolk Highways spokeswoman said: “We are working with Bury St Edmunds Town Council to agree the location for the planters.

“Once the plans have been agreed we will plan in a date to get these installed.”

However, Well Street resident Rowland Smith expressed his frustration, saying: “It just seems to me we are putting so much emphasis on having pretty planters we are losing sight of what we are trying to achieve.”

He believes greater enforcement, as well as constraining access to the area via for example planters or fencing to make it a single carriageway, is part of the solution.

West Suffolk Council revealed that between January 1 and April 29 its civil parking officers had carried out 749 patrol visits and issued 88 penalty charge notices at that location.

At the town council meeting, PCSO Mark Ellis also said police were going to up their presence there in the evenings.

A Suffolk Constabulary spokesman said: “We acknowledge the frustration that residents and businesses experience with any anti-social behaviour driving and we will continue to work with partners to ensure we achieve a positive outcome. Where appropriate we can issue fixed penalty notice tickets, section 59 warnings for careless and inconsiderate driving and seize cars for no insurance.

“We will continue to monitor the situation closely over the coming weeks. Those who choose to consistently show no regard for the community will be robustly dealt with and we are very grateful for the valuable role that the public play in being vigilant and reporting any signs of such ASB (anti-social behaviour).”