Save Spinney & St Bede's Kids' Lungs & Limbs
Dear Cambridge resident,
Many drivers are now using Mill End Road as a rat-run, cutting off Cherry Hinton High Street southbound at the mini-roundabout junction of Chelwood Road during rush hour in order to "beat" queues on the High Street.
Many do this by speeding (some obviously in excess of the 20mph limit) down Mill End Road, swerving hurriedly through the parked cars to rejoin the High Street with priority at the mini roundabout at the other end of Mill End Road.
On other mornings, Mill End Road is jammed with traffic queuing up, engines running, fumigating pedestrians and cyclists on their way to school.
Not only is the exhaust smelly, harmful and unpleasant but the speeding drivers and queues of traffic which reduce visibility for others using and crossing the road are dangerous for hundreds of schoolchildren every week that walk or cycle down Mill End Road to get both to The Spinney School and to St Bede's.
I have personally witnessed dozens of child cyclists pulling out of Desmond Avenue onto Mill End Road without stopping (or even looking). It is a matter of time before a child is injured on Mill End Road by a car speeding along it to beat the High Street queue during rush hour.
Suggested solution: just as with Birdwood Road / St Bede's, quite simple: a 'no vehicular access' sign at the junction of Chelwood Road and Cherry Hinton High Street, in force in the mornings between 8-9am, and during term time weekdays only. Restrictions would only be needed in the mornings, as nobody has any reason to use Mill End Road like this at the end of the day coming out of town because there are no queues on the High Street.
Please see here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kuhw1IuEykrsyvNq_8M2QuMhGtNN35nO/view?usp=drivesdk for how the sign might look (n.b. the proposal is only for the 8-9am restriction).
Residents (myself included) could simply access Mill End Road from the mini roundabout at the junction with the High Street during these limited hours (in the unlikely event we had left Mill End Road and driven outside prior to 8am, then needed to drive back onto Mill End Road during the restricted times).
Thanks for your support in sparing Spinney and St Bede's children and their families from this abuse of their main access route to school.
Kind regards,
Charles Burrows
Mill End Road
Cambridge
This petition currently has 78 signatures in total.
| Petition Signatories |
| Rafia Al-Lamki |
| Irina Astigeevich |
| Martin Baker |
| Jarrod Baker |
| Rachel Baker |
| Kay Barber |
| Lisa Benton |
| Martyn Benton |
| Darsana Bharathi |
| Tim Boniface |
This petition has been reviewed and the following response has been offered:
| Date | User | Description | Status |
| 09/04/2023 02:06 | (System Event) | Petition Closed (responder emailed requesting response) | Response Pending |
| 25/03/2023 21:51 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Annie Zhou | Petition Active |
| 24/03/2023 11:35 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: jerry smith | Petition Active |
| 24/03/2023 07:52 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: JC Eason | Petition Active |
| 23/03/2023 07:58 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Irina Astigeevich | Petition Active |
| 22/03/2023 15:44 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Rosie Dore | Petition Active |
| 22/03/2023 12:06 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: joni Masterson | Petition Active |
| 21/03/2023 13:39 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: H TASKER | Petition Active |
| 21/03/2023 13:05 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Robin Gray | Petition Active |
| 21/03/2023 12:03 | Unregistered User | Petition Signed: Glenn Wilkinson | Petition Active |