Campaigners unveil vision for Mill Road in Cambridge

A vision for the future of Mill Road in Cambridge has been unveiled by campaigners, who are calling for investment to improve the area for residents and visitors.

The group Mill Road 4 People (MR4P) says long stretches of the road have seen “no significant investment for decades” and have drafted a host of ideas to make it more welcoming.

These include widening the pavements by reducing the road space, adding more seating and planting to make Mill Road “a place to go to, not a street to drive through”, and larger-scale plans for four public areas.

Calling on local politicians to show leadership and drive forward ambitious plans, chair Paul Lythgoe says: “Other major shopping areas in Cambridgeshire such as

St Neots town centre have seen major investment. Mill Road and its immediate area has just as many if not more residents, and it should be our turn now.”

The proposals follow the controversial installation earlier this year of the bus gate on Mill Road bridge, which restricts access to most private motor vehicles.

The move – which prompted protests from opponents and was delayed by a court challenge – was intended to improve the road for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users.

MR4P says it has led to 1,000 more active travel journeys on Mill Road per day compared to the same period last year and it expects this number to grow further as the Greater Cambridge Partnership plans to route its Fulbourn Greenway along Mill Road.

But the group, which states that it has more than 1,100 supporters, says there has been “almost no progress” on improvements to the ‘quality of space’ in the street, which 83 per cent of respondents wanted in a 2022 consultation.

Devised with its supporters, charities and community groups, the group stresses its ideas are intended to stimulate debate and generate enthusiasm to encourage politicians to draw up firm proposals for public consultation.

But others in Mill Road have questioned where the investment would come from – and pointed to complicated ownership issues that could stifle the vision.

MR4P says its project is driven by underlying aims to make Mill Road a safer place to walk, wheel and cycle, with reliable, well-connected public transport. It wants the street to be a “place that thrives”, so that more people come to shop and use local businesses, and where residents and visitors can enjoy spending time.

Adhering to a hierarchy of road users, with pedestrians and wheelchair users at the top, followed by cyclists, public transport and then private vehicles, the group proposes that the road should be 6m wide in most places, which would allow for the pavements to be widened while maintaining a bus service.

Where Mill Road pavements are particularly narrow, the group suggests a 4.5m-wide carriageway should be considered to enable wider pavements.

It says: “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, the group says, through measures such as replacing traffic light-controlled pelican crossings with zebra crossings, continuous footways at junctions with side roads, tackling street clutter and addressing pavement parking.

Cyclists should embrace a slow-speed environment, the campaigners say, as fast cycling is not compatible with the priority given to walking and wheeling. Safe carriageway widths, enhanced cycle parking and improvements at the Mill Road/East Road junction would improve the street for cyclists, the group says.

With bus travel times and reliability boosted by the introduction of the bus gate, the campaigners say passengers could now benefit from enhanced bus stops, a relocation of the bus stop and the option of smaller shuttle buses.

Four areas would benefit from larger-scale improvements – the Bath House, The Broadway, Ditchburn Place and the area where Mill Road meets East Road, which it calls the ‘Gateway to Mill Road’. It proposes a bold ‘Welcome to Mill Road’ arch here to mark the street once ranked 14th in TravelSupermarket’s list of ‘hip hangouts’ across the country.

LDA Design, in Sturton Street, has produced two visualisations for free in support of the project, showing how The Bath House and Broadway areas could look.

The former, described as currently a “rather tired area”, could be enhanced with a café, more seating, planting and an “inviting design”, the group suggests.

Meanwhile, The Broadway – the largest single area of public space on Mill Road – is described as “mainly road space and car parking” currently.

LDA Design’s reimagining of the site places a main seating and planting area on the north side, which gets the most sunlight, while the south side is reserved for loading and parking for disabled/Blue Badge holders and cycles.

A raised table zebra crossing could replace the pelican crossing and short-term parking spaces removed as they “would be better provided for in the side roads”, the group suggests.

Reducing the carriageway to 4.5m here would mean “give and go one-way working for motor vehicles” to reallocate as much of the space as possible to walkers and wheelers.

Ditchburn Place is already earmarked for a new memorial for soldiers from the Indian sub-continent who fought with the Allies in the Second World War, which is proposed to join the Gateway to India arch. But Mill Road 4 People says the Cambridge City Council-owned land could also be made more inviting by being opened up, as it currently appears “private and fenced-off”.

A broader issue for Mill Road is pavement parking, which the campaigners say could be dealt with through design – using bollards, marked loading bays and planters – and by enforcement, including pavement parking bans and the recruitment of more enforcement officers.

Meanwhile, private car drivers would benefit from reduced congestion, fewer traffic lights and more disabled/Blue Badge parking, the group says.

To ensure businesses can get their deliveries, a full serving strategy is needed, the campaigners say, which could include on-road loading bays in Petersfield, a kerbside strategy for Romsey and last-mile support for local businesses.

MR4P has already held meetings with councillors to discuss the ideas and tackle long-running issues such as the very narrow pavement on the north side of the street in Petersfield.

It points out the width falls well short of government guidelines on inclusive mobility, and the area by the bus stop near Emery Street is problematic.

Charlotte de Blois, who lives on Mill Road, said: “The pavement is so narrow here that I am unable to walk alongside a disabled family member outside our own home. This pavement may have been adequate at the time it was built, but it’s not fit for purpose nowadays.”

MR4P points to research showing that people walking, wheeling and cycling spend more in local shops than drivers.

But Mill Road hairdresser Piero D’Angelico said that has not been his experience since the bus gate was installed on the bridge.

“We have reduced the amount of traffic, especially in Romsey. Unfortunately, many businesses doubt they are going to survive much longer,” he said. “Mill Road was a street to supply the city but because of the lack of connection to the rest of the city now, some shops are going to go. I’m one of them. I don’t see a future where I can rent my shop to someone else because it’s not sustainable.

“Everything has changed and I can no longer afford to employ people. I work on my own now. Cambridge has become expensive and people can’t afford to live here, so people would come from outside, but it’s become a nightmare for them to reach the shops.”

He also believes that taking pavement space for planters and seating will be tricky. In his role for the Mill Road Traders group, he previously got the deeds to all the properties on the streets to understand the complex ownership of the areas outside shops.

“It would mean taking pavements that belong to businesses for pots and flowers. It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. “People dream but they don’t understand the dynamic of the street. This is not the city centre. It’s a residential area and Mill Road really only comes alive at the weekend. We don’t have parks. I’m not against trying to improve the street but it has to be a realistic plan.”

Piero is leading the plans for the memorial for Ditchburn Place, but said even that has to be funded by private donations, so questions where funding will come from for major changes.

“You can dream as much as you want – it’s free,” he said. “The reality is: where is the money going to come from?”

What is clear is that Mill Road and its bus gate remains a talking point for the upcoming elections on 1 May.

A further court challenge from protesters to the Traffic Regulation Order approved by the county council is due to be heard on 10 June.