The following information directly affects every motorist in the UK since the a High Court ruling would influence the legality of all Traffic Regulation Orders.

Mill Road Bridge in Cambridge has become the epicentre of the fight for motorists freedom.

As a result of the first legal challenge of the Mill Road Traffic Regulation order (TRO), the group Friends of Mill Road Bridge succeeded in forcing the council to withdraw rather than face a battle at the High Court. This was a victory but a court hearing would have been more useful and  this is what we are now heading towards.

Predictably, the Council immediately relaunched the exact same TRO with slightly adapted wording and proceeded to attempt to ram-raid it through the Highways & Transport Committee and are now expecting to close the bridge again, scheduling works to begin on 11th November.

We were given very little time to respond, which was their intention to out-manoeuvre 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!

On the 11th October, the new TRO was signed by the Council. The Council kept quiet about this until 23rd October, which meant we lost 2 weeks of the 6 week window within which to file claim. 6 weeks became 4 weeks.

Then we learned that the Council had scheduled the works to begin on the 11th November - 2 weeks before the end of the deadline! So 4 weeks became 2 weeks!

We had been pushed into the tightest of tight time frames imaginable within which to act and respond, but we made it.
As of the 4th November, the Pre-Action Letter has been sent and received.

There will be another hearing in the High Court at some point soon, to determine the legality or lack thereof of the Council's continued determined effort to close Mill Road Bridge against all the evidence and lack of supporting data, and manipulation of the process to speed-run this thing to completion.

If we succeed this time, it might kill the thing completely for many years and establish case law to enable everyone to fight back against aggressive TROs.

The grounds are based on:

- The reasons for the TRO are not supported by evidence
- The reasons given not legally adequate
- Council ignored local petition that ran during the consultation period
- Council granted the TRO for improper motive, ie, the substantial funding arrangement that the Department for Transport made with the Mayor of the CPCA

These are the grounds which the Council must answer and defend, otherwise agree to quash the TRO again, and this time without immediately relaunching it again.
The outcome of this will have a massive impact on all of us and it means that the powers that be will no longer have the confidence to ride roughshod over our needs.

As before, WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT! Please sign this petition

We also need donations to pay for the legal fees.

We are a constituted group whose financial statements are transparent and all funds raised will be going directly into fighting this legal challenge.

You can now make donations through the Go Fund Me link at the bottom of the page and every penny counts!

The closure of Mill Road Bridge will affect us all, and is one part of a wider agenda to clamp down on freedom of movement in the UK and the restricting of the private vehicle. After Mill Road is closed, they have their sights on many other roads, all in an incremental effort to eventually necessitate a Congestion Charge, or some similar scheme which they have long sought to bring into Cambridge and other towns nationwide. These plans are not viable, not wanted and not asked for, but are being imposed from above. If successful every council in the country will be emboldened and able to take Cambridge’s lead.

If you want to put a stop to the Councils and their plans to close multiple roads to through-traffic, and strangle freedom of movement, implement congestion charging and gradually restrict the use of private vehicles in UK, please donate today, join the Facebook group to remain up to speed with progress.

This fight is not over yet, and this might be our last chance to stop them, MILL ROAD BRIDGE IS WHERE WE MAKE OUR STAND!!!

Donations to the cause:

https://gofund.me/2bd74ede


Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19RKdFptVZ/?mibextid=K35XfP


Thank you all 🙏🏻