02/05/2024 - Council asks for patience and understanding ahead of national music festival being held at Stockwood Park

The BBC and festival organisers are working closely with Luton Council to ensure that the event is a safe and secure environment for all those attending the festival.  A Traffic Management Plan, taking on board local resident and business feedback, has been put in place.  To ensure public safety, so that huge crowds can get to and from Stockwood Park, there will need to be a number of road restrictions. With a number of road closures in place, it will mean disruption and diversions for those living locally and those travelling across Luton. 

 

The full list of roads can be found on the council’s website. However, it is not the case that all these roads will be closed for this whole period. It is expected that each day there will be a period between peak time of people arriving at the event, and peak times festival goers are leaving, where it will be safe to allow access for residents and permitted vehicles.

There will be designated walking routes for those attending the festival, managed with signage, stewards and traffic management, which will follow Farley Hill and Cutenhoe Rd.  To allow for the volume of people walking on these routes a full road closure of Farley Hill and the top section of Cutenhoe Road will apply. Only emergency vehicles will be permitted during this time.

To reduce the impact to the residents and businesses in the immediate vicinity, a Residential Protection Zone (RPZ) has been put in place over the weekend to allow residents in the area access when the roads are closed to all other motorists, deterring unauthorised parking and the blocking of residential and business access. Those in the RPZ can apply for a free digital permit which will allow them to get in and out throughout the weekend. Marshals will be stationed at closures and will be to assist and offer reassurance to local residents and businesses. See our RPZ web page for more details.

Gerard McCleave, Corporate Director for Inclusive Economy at Luton Council, said: “BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend coming to Luton will be amazing occasion. It is an opportunity for our young people to see international superstars and BRITS award winning musicians in their town as well as for us all to showcase the great things in Luton and give a multi-million pound boost to Luton’s economy. However, we have to be realistic. An event of this scale will cause disruption for some people in Luton and surrounding areas given the sheer scale of people attending the event.

“Despite the work being undertaken and plans in place to help avoid inconvenience to people, to protect public safety there inevitably will be disruption due to road closures and diversions in place.

“For those living in the immediate vicinity, who will be most impacted, we hope they can understand that we are doing the best we can to keep this disruption to a minimum. We ask that everyone is patient and plans ahead. The council will be making traffic information widely available through its website and social media in the run up to the event”. 

We will write to those in the vicinity of the event with specific details closer to the time.

For more information, visit; Radio 1’s Big Weekend web page.