Mayor Paul Bristow: ‘The Mill Road bridge bus gate in Cambridge has done more harm than good’

Paul Bristow, the recently-elected Conservative mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, writes the second of his new monthly columns for the Cambridge Independent.

One of my first visits in Cambridge since being elected was to Mill Road. It’s one of the city’s most characterful, vibrant streets with a real mix of cultures and independent shops. I really like it. But it’s changed – and not for the better.

Since the bus gate went in, local traders have found business tougher. Some are saying that custom is down by a quarter – and the local post office told me that in some areas takings are down 83 per cent.

When I visited, I heard the same message again and again: please reopen the bridge. It’s a real shame because now more than ever we should be helping small businesses, not making survival more difficult.

In my manifesto, I pledged to get Cambridge moving again and end the war on motorists. Reopening Mill Road bridge is in black and white. I campaigned on it, and I mean to deliver.

The reality is that many rely on cars. Blocking a bridge is a blunt instrument in what is a far more complex transport challenge. Too often, the result is simply displaced traffic and damaged trade, harming the vibrancy of the very places we’re trying to protect. It’s done more harm than good.

Just this week we heard that 4,677 fines have been issued in the first seven weeks – a shocking number which must be a pretty useful revenue stream for the county council!

So what next? In my first column, I talked about the importance of working together as a region. Where things work, we should keep doing them and where they don’t work, we should change them. The Mill Road bus gate is a county council initiative and it is the local authority responsible for our highways. I want to work with them to find a way forward that works for the whole community, including getting the bridge open to everyday vehicles again.

Under the government’s new devolution plans, I’ll have new powers over something called the Key Route Network – roads that are vital to our region’s economy and daily life. Mill Road will be one of those roads. And when those powers arrive, I’ll use them, if needed, to get this city moving, including reopening the bridge. But in the meantime I hope the council listens and will work with me.

To be clear, I want people to use public transport and to walk and cycle more often. But only by putting in the right transport infrastructure can we make that happen. The GCP has failed to deliver the joined up, modern transport network Cambridge needs and I’ll be working to make a change.

That means delivering Cambridge South without more slippage. It means better, more local rail services, real progress on a franchised bus network that’s affordable and reliable, and light rail for the city – a proper long-term transport solution.

Until then, small steps like reopening Mill Road bridge can make a difference.

Elsewhere things are moving. Just this week, I welcomed news that the planning phase for the Fens Reservoir is being fast-tracked by government – a vital step for a fast-growing region under increasing water stress. That reservoir will support homes, jobs, and protect our environment by reducing pressure on chalk aquifers and our rare chalk streams. I’ll now work with ministers to speed up delivery of the reservoir itself because 2036 is too long to wait.

And we’ve launched seven new Tiger bus routes, linking communities with jobs, schools and services at Addenbrooke’s across Cambridge and beyond. Tiger 1 connects Huntingdon to Cambridge Science Park and the city centre. Tiger 2 covers the north of Cambridge, and Tiger 3 links Fulbourn to Grantchester and Addenbrooke’s.

Explore more at cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk/tiger-bus-routes/.