Labour administration accused of “gross incompetence” by Tories as main road through Enfield Town is resurfaced

A steamroller pictured on Church Street this morning (Thursday 19th)

A controversial bus lane and red route in Enfield Town have had to be repainted just weeks after being installed – thanks to new resurfacing work.

Church Street in the town centre is being resurfaced this week, meaning fresh paint is needed for all the road markings.

But the bus lane was only painted a few weeks before Christmas, and the red route in January.

A council spokesperson said: “Temporary line markings are a normal part of delivering projects like this. Final resurfacing is carried out at the end of the works, at which point permanent road markings are painted.

“During construction, conditions on site change as different parts of the scheme are delivered. Temporary markings are therefore used to help manage traffic safely. In this case, temporary bus lane markings were introduced to support bus journeys and reduce unnecessary lane switching.

“Red route markings were added to deter unsafe and inconsiderate parking. Once resurfacing is complete, the permanent markings will be put in place.

“The cost of the temporary markings was approximately £3,000 and supported the safe and efficient delivery of the scheme.”

The newly repainted bus lane and red route in Church Street pictured today (Thursday 19th)

Alessandro Georgiou, the opposition Conservative group leader who hopes to be running the council after May’s election, said: “As usual this grossly incompetent Labour council has wasted hundreds of thousands in taxpayer money for this waste-of-time scheme.

“Nobody wanted this bus lane and they’ve just made a bad situation worse.”

The new bus lane and red route were installed as part of the ongoing ‘Enfield Town Liveable Neighbourhood’ scheme, which also includes a much wider set of public realm changes such as new squares, wider pavements and more pedestrian crossings, slated to cost at least £6million and funded largely by Transport for London.

In January, the council was forced to temporarily suspend the 24-hour bus lane as it became clear that without the red route being installed alongside it, traffic was backing up all the way to Windmill Hill.

The council never explained why the bus lane and red route were not installed simultaneously.

This story has been updated with the council’s explanation of the reason for the road markings being installed before the resurfacing works

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.