The Mill Road bridge bus gate is (at last) in place. So what’s next for Mill Road? We need a Mill Road transformation project to make Mill Road a place to go to, not a street to drive through.
The town centres of St Neots and March have populations of 33,000 and 23,000 respectively. Both these Cambridgeshire towns have already benefited from multi-million pound public realm improvement projects. The Mill Road catchment area has a bigger population than both of these places, with around 35,000 people living within a 20 minute walk, wheel or cycle ride of Mill Road.
But long stretches of Mill Road have had no significant investment for decades. It’s our High Street’s turn for some TLC!
We’ve been working with our supporters, local charities and community groups to produce some ideas for a transformed Mill Road. Our intention is to
- stimulate debate amongst councillors, residents, businesses and others
- generate enthusiasm and excitement for a Mill Road transformation project
- demonstrate the strength of local support to our politicians
The relevant local authorities will of course need to draw up their own plans, and subject them to a public consultation – which must include the local community of residents and traders, and all other stakeholders.
But this post describes our ideas, and sets out how we came up with them:
- Shared Aims for Transformation
- Project Design Parameters
- Walking & Wheeling
- Cycling
- Public Transport
- Public Space – Transformation Opportunities
- Pavement Parking
- Servicing Shops and Businesses
- Private Cars
Shared Aims for Transformation
What should a Mill Road transformation project achieve? We looked back at our 8 goals for Mill Road and agreed that Mill Road should be:
- a safer place to walk and wheel1
- a safer place to cycle
- a place with reliable and well-connected public transport
- a place that thrives, where more people will want to come and shop and use the local businesses
- a place for residents and visitors to enjoy and spend time
Project Design Parameters
The ideas we’re proposing aim to prioritise users of Mill Road according to their place in the hierarchy of road users. Walking (and wheeling) should get the highest priority, then cyclists, then public transport and finally private motor vehicles.
A 6m carriageway (the road space) along the majority of Mill Road would allow for pavement widening whilst maintaining a bus service.
Where Mill Road pavements are particularly narrow, a 4.5m carriageway should be considered. This would allow for reallocation of space from carriageway to pavement. While these stretches will be wide enough for two-way on-road cycling, drivers of vehicles would be required to give way to each other.
Increased priority for pedestrians should be provided at crossing points and at junctions with side roads.
Mill Road Transformation – Walking & Wheeling
The needs of pedestrians and wheelchair users should be prioritised through
- widened pavements
- improved crossings (e.g. replacing traffic light controlled pelican crossings with zebra crossings)
- walking and wheeling made a priority at side roads – e.g. continuous footways
- tackling street clutter and uneven surfaces
- addressing pavement parking
- providing other amenities e.g. seating, planting
Cycling
Changes for cyclists should include:
- a slow-speed environment (fast cycling is not compatible with an environment in which walkers and wheelers have priority)
- safe carriageway widths
- enhanced cycle parking
- cycle enhancements at the Mill Road / East Road junction
Public Transport
Public transport reliability and travel times have improved significantly since the introduction of the bus gate2. How can the experience of public transport be further improved as part of a Mill Road transformation project? What about:
- bus stop enhancements
- bus stop relocation – to increase convenience for users of public transport
- enhanced buses – e.g. options for smaller shuttles
Public Space – Transformation Opportunities
In addition to small interventions along the length of Mill Road (planting, seating etc), we have identified 4 areas which would benefit from larger scale public realm improvement. These areas are:
Huge thanks to our friends at LDA Design in Sturton Street who did the beautiful Bath House and Broadway visualisation work for us pro bono 🙂
The Bath House
This rather tired area of public space really could do with a makeover:
How about a cafe, more seating, planting, and an inviting design which encourages passers-by to spend some time there:
The Broadway
As the name suggests, this is the biggest single area of public space on the whole of Mill Road, but the area is mainly road space + car parking right now. It really could be much more welcoming…
Here’s an alternative picture of this area. Imagine how this would draw residents and visitors in to spend time in the nearby cafes and shops.
The main seating and planting areas are on the north side of the road – which benefits from the most sunlight. The south side is reserved for loading, and parking for disabled / blue badge holders & cycles.
There’s a raised table zebra crossing to replace the current pelican. Those short term car parking spaces on Broadway that have been removed in this design would be better provided for in the side roads.
The carriageway width has been reduced to 4.5m (give and go one way working for motor vehicles) to reallocate as much space as possible to walkers and wheelers.
Ditchburn Place
The garden between Mill Road and the Ditchburn Place Day Centre / Sheltered Housing is another public area of opportunity. There are plans for a memorial there to Indian sub-continent soldiers who fought with the Allies in WW2, to add to the existing Gateway From India arch.
There’s only one problem: you rarely see anyone in there. Almost certainly because it looks private and fenced off.
Perhaps this Cambridge City Council owned land could be opened up and made more welcoming?
“Gateway to Mill Road”
Mill Road was ranked 14th in TravelSupermarket’s listing of ‘hip hangouts’ across the country. A new entry on the list in 2018, Mill Road beats the likes of Walthamstow in London, the Northern Quarter in Manchester and Liverpool’s Ropewalks.
Judges said that the area’s credentials as a “hip culture outpost” and its “creative capital” make it a great place to visit. They liked its independent coffee shops, vintage fashion, vinyl record shops,
independent bike shops and vegan cafes and restaurants. Who wouldn’t?
So why not promote Mill Road – and show people where it is? Let’s have a big bold “Welcome to Mill Road Arch” where Mill Road meets East Road!
Pavement Parking
As anyone who’s spent any time on Mill Road will know, pavement parking is an ongoing problem. This thoughtless and anti-social behaviour blocks space intended for pedestrians, and is particularly problematic for:
- people with visual impairments
- people with child buggies
- people in a wheelchair or on a mobility scooter
It also causes great damage to the pavements. And when cars straddle the kerb, they increase the need for potentially dangerous overtaking.
We all regularly see people driving their cars up onto the pavement with little or no regard for the impact of their actions on walkers and wheelers. We should deal with pavement parking in two ways:
1) by design:
- bollards
- marked loading bays
- planters
2) through better enforcement:
- pavement parking bans
- recruitment of more enforcement officers
Private Cars
Private car drivers could benefit from the following changes:
- more disabled / blue badge parking at “on Mill Road” locations
- reduced congestion making journey times more predictable
- fewer traffic lights
Servicing Shops and Businesses
An important component in any Mill Road transformation project will be how businesses on Mill Road will have their delivery and other servicing needs met. A full servicing strategy still needs to be created and reviewed with local businesses.
The approach that might be taken includes:
- on-carriageway loading bays
in Petersfield - a kerbside strategy for Romsey
- last-mile support for local businesses
Footnotes
- The term “Wheeling” includes the use of manual and powered wheelchairs, and mobility scooters. ↩︎
- In September 2024, an on-line tracker showed buses often losing 10mins against scheduled times, bringing average speeds down to under 5mph. Analysis in early February showed buses keeping to timetable and even gaining 1-2mins, along Mill Road. Reliability is particularly important because the No 2 bus takes lots of people to Addenbrookes Hospital appointments. ↩︎