Protesters blocked Mill Road bridge on Monday night (11/11) to prevent road workers from putting up barriers, with one person chaining themselves to a work van.

This comes after an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) camera was vandalised at the Mill Road junction with Devonshire road, CambridgeshireLive reported.

The council have responded that they will be continuing with the road works as planned.

The road works began in connection with the ‘modal filter’ which was approved by Cambridgeshire City Council in October. The new system will prohibit most motor vehicles from having access to the bridge, with the exception of buses, pedestrians, cyclists, emergency services, and blue badge holders’ registered vehicles. The new restrictions will be monitored and enforced by ANPR cameras.

An online petition named ‘Stop Mill Road Bridge Closure – forced by County Council without consultation’ has received 4,841 signatures. The petition, which was started by the Mill Road Traders Association, claims that the council is “using funding provided by the Govt under the pretence of COVID and social distancing needs”.

The protest group is associated with the Friends of Mill Road Bridge 2 campaign, which has stated its intention to launch a legal claim against the council’s plans, with one member telling CambridgeshireLive that the road closure goes “against all the evidence” and has a “lack of supporting data”.

Cambs against Congestion Charge were also involved with the protest. The group was formed in opposition to controversial plans for a congestion charge which were dropped in October 2023.

Protests against the charge broke out last year, with demonstrators in their thousands taking to the streets of Cambridge to demand that the plans be dropped.

The University had previously backed plans for the £5 congestion charge on the condition that the Council implemented better public transport measures in the city before introducing the fee.