Council drops legal challenge on road restrictions

Restrictions on traffic able to use Mill Road bridge have caused arguments between the council and campaigners

A council said it would no longer fight a court battle about traffic restrictions on a busy city road as it did not want to spend "money and time" defending the case.

Cambridgeshire County Council wanted to introduce a traffic ban on part of Mill Road in Cambridge, exempting buses, cyclists, emergency services, taxis and blue badge holders.

A member of campaign group Friends of Mill Road Bridge challenged the plan in court, and argued that fines for using the bridge would create traffic elsewhere.

The council said it had now "agreed with the claimant to end legal proceedings" and a statutory consultation on the proposed Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) would begin on Friday.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the council said: "A hearing on the case was held in February and the council has reflected on the outcome of this. It has decided to undertake the statutory consultation and decision-making process on the traffic regulation order again. This is to stop the council spending money and time associated with defending this case.

"We’d like to apologise for the time this has taken thus far and recognise the frustration people have expressed locally."

Pamela Wesson, chair of Friends of Mill Road Bridge said on a Facebook post the group was "tremendously gratified by the outcome of the case" which felt like "a David-vs-Goliath struggle".

She said the group's legal challenge included the allegation the council "made a mistake of fact in relation to how the decision affected individuals with disabilities" and it wished for all people to be able to cross the bridge "without detours or fines".

But not all residents agreed with the campaign.

Katie Hawks, from Mill Road 4 People, said its fight to restrict car access continued, and it was wrong to describe the proposal as a road closure.

"It's not closed, it's actually opening it up to more cyclists, pedestrians and faster buses," she said.

"We really, really want more children to be able to get to school by themselves safely and [this is] one way of doing this."

The council added: "Once the TRO notice period closes on 13 September, all responses will be collated, and the aim is for a report to be presented to a special Highways and Transport Committee in October.

"At this meeting, councillors will determine the objections, discuss the report and decide whether the Mill Road bridge closure should be approved or not."