Reverse the decision to close Mill Road Bridge to through-traffic and cancel the TRO.
The decision to close Mill Road Bridge to through traffic has been highly controversial and divisive and causes nothing but problems, harming trade for businesses, and increasing displacement of traffic on surrounding routes, making them more congested and polluted, and discriminating against disabled people whose carers will be blocked from reaching them.
The debate has raged on for years with no compromise solution sought.
The decision itself was made on such faulty pretenses that it has been able to be taken to the High Court for Judicial Review, costing a lot of time and money.
The reasons given for closing the bridge are not supported by any evidence or data, only wishes and suppositions.
During the decision meeting, it was wrongly stated that blue-badge holders would be allowed to register 2 vehicles for exemption meaning they would not need to be in the vehicles themselves, but shortly after the meeting that was then admitted to be wrong, and so carers and friends/family of disabled residents will not be allowed to pass over the bridge.
The closure of the bridge to through-traffic is being sought in order to obtain Active Travel funding, which was never publicised or advocated by the proponents of closing the bridge, and it was promoted on false premises, such as improving air quality. The air quality aspect has never been supported by data or evidence, and in fact, the Officer's Report stated that there would be no discernible improvement in Air Quality as a result of the fact that traffic will simply move from one place to another.
The roads around Mill Road will become even more congested than they already are, meaning the argument that bus times will become more reliable is also a false premise.
The GCP consultation in 2022 reached no more than 2050 people, most of whom were the campaigners who wanted the bridge to close, and the Mill Road Traders were not counted among "key stakeholders".
Of the 11 "key stakeholders", 5 were Councillors, 2 were on the GCP, and 2 were Cycling-lobbyists, and the results of that consultation were heavily biased.
During the previous closure of the bridge in 2020, nearly 5,000 people signed petitions to re-open, which has been ignored and forgotten in favour of the biased GCP consultation.
There is widespread resentment about the decision to close the bridge, and the Judicial Review has caused the whole thing to be drawn out and has highlighted the serious need for a re-examination of the TRO, and to allow the public to understand what is being done and why.
And none of this goes into the effects closing Mill Road will have on the city as a whole, as there are also plans to close Coldham's Lane as well, and possibly Arbury Road, and many more "Active Travel" schemes, which have no mandate, using similar measures, all of which will have similar detrimental negative impacts.
Please sign this petition to show the Council that while cycling-lobbyists and "Active Travel" activists may sing the praises of the the Mill Road TRO, there are still many who do not agree and do not want the bridge to close.
Thank you