Cambridgeshire County Council is asking the government for an extension on funding it was granted to complete work on the Mill Road bridge bus gate after the deadline passed at the end of March.
The local authority received £150,000 from the government’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) via the Combined Authority and the Department for Transport.
But the deadline for completing work to be paid for by the funding was March 31 and the council is waiting to hear whether this can be extended.
A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: “The work on Mill Road is associated with funding that had a 31 March, 2024 deadline, however we’re in discussion with partners on agreeing an extension to that funding.”
The spokesperson added: “As is common practice with highways and transport projects, we often work with partners involved when project circumstances change.
“We’ve been having regular discussions with the Department for Transport and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority about this project and the funding deadline, we have received verbal confirmation the funding can continue and we’re working on a new extension date.
“We expect this to be formally confirmed in a letter soon.”
The council did not confirm when asked whether failure to have the deadline extended would prevent any work on Mill Road from going ahead due to lack of funds.
A December 2022 report to the council’s highways and transport committee warned that “delivery timescales for the TCF funding are tight and it is understood that there is very limited scope for flex of timeframes, particularly for the end of the 2023/24 financial year requirement for scheme completion.”
The Transforming Cities Fund is a capital grant transport fund aimed at driving up productivity through investments in public and sustainable transport infrastructure in some of England’s largest city regions
However, the work on installing a bus gate on Mill Road bridge and closing it to all private motorised traffic with certain exemptions has been held up during legal action.
Pam Wesson, the chair of Friends of Mill Road Bridge, has taken Cambridgeshire County Council to the High Court in a bid to prevent the bus gate being implemented.
The restriction, voted for by councillors, would allow only buses, bicycles, taxis, blue badge drivers and pedestrians to cross the bridge.
Drivers who are not exempt would face a £70 fine for travelling through the new bus gate, which would be enforced by automatic number plate recognition cameras. A council consultation found 72 per cent of respondents were in favour of the move to improve the environment for walking and cycling.
The grounds upon which Pam Wesson is suing the council include the failure to provide adequate reasons for proposing the Traffic Regulation Order, the failure to provide and/or notify objectors of the reasons for the making of the order, a mistake of fact in relation to the exemption for carers of blue badge holders, the failure to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty, the decision erroneously taking into account the potential to attract funding, and the failure to consult other organisations as part of statutory consultation.
Approval for closure was granted by councillors following a trial.
