Using coronavirus as a reason to change transport patterns in town centres “makes little sense”, a resident has said.

Richard Brown, who lives in Bushey Heath, claims Hertfordshire County Council has put forward an “unconvincing argument” to remove parking spaces and secure road closures in towns across the county to help with social distancing.

He also accused the council of introducing new social distancing measures without “thinking them through”.

It comes after the council drew up plans to alter town centres across the county like widening pavements and closing roads in a bid to help people maintain two metre distances.

In Watford, the council has closed access to the High Street from Water Lane (by the blue pyramid), meaning there will be no access to the lower part of the High Street through to King Street for vehicles.

Hillingdon Times:

Hillingdon Times:

This is except for buses, delivery vehicles, taxis and blue badge holders. Parking on this section of the High Street is also suspended.

The county council says it wanted to introduce the measures “quickly so people get used to them as traffic levels increase” following the easing of the lockdown.

But Mr Brown, 71, who also resides in Dunstable, said the measures could discourage people from shopping and visiting town centres since they may not live close by.

He said: “The reality is that the council has introduced what may be the right policy entirely in the wrong way.

“If you drive into a town centre and park then you are presumably social distancing within your vehicle.

“When you get out of your car you check to see whether there are people around and act responsibly. So using the virus as a justification for changing transport patterns makes little sense.

"The suggestion that appears to be gaining traction that people should walk or cycle makes little sense when there are people who live away from town centres."

Hillingdon Times:

He added that the new measures introduced by the council “have not been thought through in any detail in an opportunistic way”.

“It needs to be rethought immediately and introduced in a more circumspect way”, Mr Brown said.

“While there is a very strong case for making town centres more consumer-friendly, if only to support the local high street, the way in which it has been done and the justification given by the council for doing so smacks of a draconian and short sighted approach to policy.”

A spokesperson from the council said: “We have been working with colleagues in public health to identify and promote measures that support the national drive on social distancing to save lives and enable our towns and their services to safely reopen, in advance of the lockdown measures starting to be eased.

“Recognising that this was a national challenge, we have been working at pace to ensure that we were ahead of the game and could get the necessary traffic management supplies in time to enable appropriate measures to be rolled out.”