Radio 2 in the Park: Leicester City Council defends park and ride decision

Kylie Minogue will be headlining the two-day festival

Leicester City Council has defended its decision not to provide additional park and ride services for the city's Radio 2 in the Park festival this weekend.

Thousands are due to visit the event, headlined by Kylie Minogue, but park and ride buses will stop at 19:00 BST on Saturday with no service on Sunday.

Green Party campaigner Mags Lewis said she did not want the city "to look like a joke" as a result.

The council said additional services were not needed.

The city's Victoria Park will host the festival, also featuring Tears for Fears, Texas and James Blunt.

Ms Lewis, who lives in the area, said: "This is an opportunity to show off the park and ride to people and to make the city accessible.

"We don't want the city to look like a joke when no-one knows where they are going, roads are shut and people are getting frustrated."

Rupert Bedder, the council's highways network asset manager, said a traffic management plan had been "very well researched" to ensure extra park and ride services were not needed throughout the weekend.

Victoria Park hosted Leicester City's title celebrations in 2016

"We feel that the BBC has got a good traffic management plan and we're confident that it will work on the Saturday and the Sunday," he said.

"We want people to come to Leicester - we want people to enjoy the weekend - but ideally we don't want too many cars coming into the city centre.

"We appreciate that some people might not have a choice and might have to drive, but the more people we can get walking, cycling and using public transport the better."

He said the traffic plan would utilise dedicated park and walk sites, which aimed to divert more than 3,000 cars away from the city centre.

Additional free Hop! bus services will also be used, alongside the city centre's existing 9,000 parking spaces.