Campaigners eye second legal challenge over traffic regulation order

Work is progressing on a bus gate project in Cambridge despite campaign group Friends of Mill Road Bridge 2 threatening further legal action over what it said was a decision taken for an improper financial motive.

The Friends of Mill Road Bridge succeeded in obtaining a quashing order from the High Court, and Cambridgeshire County Council said in August it would not defend this legal challenge brought against its decision to approve a Traffic Regulation Order.

But the friends group said the council immediately relaunched the same order with slightly adapted wording and scheduled work to begin on 11 November.

It said: “We were given very little time to respond, which was their intention to outmanoeuvre us, but we acted quickly, and Friends of Mill Road Bridge regrouped and sought legal advice from the same team who conducted the first legal claim, and having established that there are grounds for further legal action, the group has reformed and given instructions to pursue a second legal claim, under the name Friends Of Mill Road Bridge 2.”

A pre-action letter said Cambridgeshire granted the order for an improper motive - to secure a substantial funding arrangement that the Department for Transport made with the elected mayor of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority.

It also argued that the council ignored a local petition and that the reasons for the order are not supported by evidence and are legally inadequate.

The group argued that the closure of Mill Road Bridge was “part of a wider agenda to clamp down on freedom of movement in Cambridge and the restricting of the private vehicle”.

Henry Batchelor, chair of Cambridgeshire's highways and transport committee, said at the time the second order was made: "There has been a lot of engagement on this project and whilst this was not an easy decision, we agreed restricting most of the traffic over the bridge would be beneficial and give local people more improvements.”

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: “We have reviewed the pre-action letter, indicating a potential challenge to the Mill Road Bridge Traffic Regulation Order. The special Highways and Transport committee made their decision on 4 October, we have followed the statutory process, and we will be proceeding with the work.”

Mark Smulian