Mill Road 4 People welcomes today’s announcement of the court judgment, which rejects all of the claimant’s four grounds, often in strong terms. This decision has shown definitively that the installation of the bus gate on Mill Road was neither undemocratic nor illegal in any way.
The forceful nature of the judge’s language, for instance describing the claimant’s grounds as ‘hypercritical and unreasonable’ must raise the question of how Ms Rose’s legal team agreed to pursue the case, particularly following the previous judgment that it was ‘very far from compelling’. We should all be angry to see taxpayers money wasted in this way.
While we believe the bus gate will bring huge benefits to the area, it is impossible to make a change such as this without disadvantaging some people. That is why we have democratically elected representatives to weigh up different interests and take what they believe is the best decision for all.
Since the installation of the bus gate, walking and cycling along Mill Road has increased hugely, a fact shown by multiple studies to be of benefit to local businesses.
MR4P has put forward a set of radical ideas for the transformation of Mill Road into an attractive and vibrant street that we believe will bring more shoppers and provide a pleasant environment for the local community (https://millroad4people.org/2025/03/26/mill-road-transformation-project )
We hope that this court case will now draw a line under the challenges to the bus gate that have cost local taxpayers so much money.
It is important to remember that there is no such thing as the status quo. Nobody voted to allow a threefold increase in motor vehicle numbers since 1970 or for them to become so much larger. Calls to reduce traffic on Mill Road are attested in newspaper articles and political leaflets going back over 50 years and it is shameful that a C road was ever allowed to carry 12,000 vehicles a day.
We call on our local politicians to work hard to seek funding for the transformation of Mill Road and to show the vision and commitment necessary to make it an exemplar for other low-traffic streets in Cambridge and beyond.