I can't help noticing that here in Avon, the supporters of 'liveable neighbourhoods' and the concept of fifteen minute cities are doubling down in their fanaticism. I've put quote marks around 'liveable neighbourhoods' because what may well end up as 'liveable' for some will result in extra misery for others as the same volume of traffic using the roads is squeezed into a smaller amount of road space. I've lost count of the number of times where I've had to state that a 'liveable neighbourhood' can only be feasible in the context of a regional transport strategy that sets out to reduce the overall volume of traffic on the road network by offering an attractive and reliable public transport option. One that in the Avon region has to include an enhanced rail service and at some point, where feasible, light rail as well.
I started trying to do what you're describing - have a reasoned discussion of these policies, based on pointing out real consequences and implications - on social media over a year ago and since then have written extensively on the subject for national and independent media. All I ever get from the advocates are denial, assertions of the kind you describe and, more recently, insults.
The phenomenon we're dealing with is much more than people just not listening, it's to do the grip that ideology has once it takes hold - a complex issue best understood in social psychology and the history books! In Britain 2024 it's perhaps most clearly observable in Streatham, a few miles from where I live. The Streatham Wells LTN is causing extraordinary levels of disruption and distress. Footage of queues of buses are posted on social media daily and when I went to see for myself last week I found the pavement full of crowds waiting for buses. There are multiple campaigns and calls for Lambeth Council (and the Department of Transport) to do something but they are falling on deaf ears. And still the citizen advocates cry 'it's working'.
I hear the same thing playing out in Bath, where the council is planning around 40 LTNs and Oxford, where the permit-and-zone scheme will start in the autumn. To whit it's worth mentioning that the idea LTNS is that they should cover an entire city or borough - mayor Rees has explicitly said that for Bristol - and this kind of restriction of public mobility has not been tried in a western society before.
More and more people are starting to see this is not a solution to traffic congestion and not intended to be one (another long story if you start to follow the funding and organisations behind these policies). But it may be that things have to go really far in Bath, Oxford and areas of London before the penny really drops with the locals.
The constant complaint by those who believe our councils are doing us a favour by introducing these schemes that people who object don't live in the area is so short-sighted. As Alex mentions above the plan for Bristol is to introduce them everywhere, at the rate of two a year, which means everyone will be affected in the end. And many people driving from A to B will already be affected by just one LTN. And just as importantly, it's clear that many residents of Barton Hill, St George etc ARE objecting to them, and have not been listened to so far.
I'm aware that a lot of objections were submitted during the council's recent short (three week) online statutory consultation on the East Bristol "Liveable Neighbourhood" and it will be interesting to see if they are just swept under the carpet. My understanding is that this could get them into legal difficulties, but we'll see!
I pesonally attempted to contact one of the most vocal supporters of the scheme - the author of the "implement EBLN" petition on the council website. I received no reply. It really doesn't look great if they are so fanatical about their agenda that they refuse to enter into conversation about it and show no curiosity about different points of view
For a lot of the opponents of 'liveable neighbourhoods' and the like there is no nuance either. Oxford, where I haven't lived for nearly three and a half decades, has been turned into a national battleground on social media, with people who neither live, work, study nor have a business there getting involved in the opposition to what is after all a local traffic management issue. Anyway you read the original of this when I published it on WordPress just over a year ago. Here's the extended version:
I started trying to do what you're describing - have a reasoned discussion of these policies, based on pointing out real consequences and implications - on social media over a year ago and since then have written extensively on the subject for national and independent media. All I ever get from the advocates are denial, assertions of the kind you describe and, more recently, insults.
The phenomenon we're dealing with is much more than people just not listening, it's to do the grip that ideology has once it takes hold - a complex issue best understood in social psychology and the history books! In Britain 2024 it's perhaps most clearly observable in Streatham, a few miles from where I live. The Streatham Wells LTN is causing extraordinary levels of disruption and distress. Footage of queues of buses are posted on social media daily and when I went to see for myself last week I found the pavement full of crowds waiting for buses. There are multiple campaigns and calls for Lambeth Council (and the Department of Transport) to do something but they are falling on deaf ears. And still the citizen advocates cry 'it's working'.
I hear the same thing playing out in Bath, where the council is planning around 40 LTNs and Oxford, where the permit-and-zone scheme will start in the autumn. To whit it's worth mentioning that the idea LTNS is that they should cover an entire city or borough - mayor Rees has explicitly said that for Bristol - and this kind of restriction of public mobility has not been tried in a western society before.
More and more people are starting to see this is not a solution to traffic congestion and not intended to be one (another long story if you start to follow the funding and organisations behind these policies). But it may be that things have to go really far in Bath, Oxford and areas of London before the penny really drops with the locals.
The constant complaint by those who believe our councils are doing us a favour by introducing these schemes that people who object don't live in the area is so short-sighted. As Alex mentions above the plan for Bristol is to introduce them everywhere, at the rate of two a year, which means everyone will be affected in the end. And many people driving from A to B will already be affected by just one LTN. And just as importantly, it's clear that many residents of Barton Hill, St George etc ARE objecting to them, and have not been listened to so far.
I'm aware that a lot of objections were submitted during the council's recent short (three week) online statutory consultation on the East Bristol "Liveable Neighbourhood" and it will be interesting to see if they are just swept under the carpet. My understanding is that this could get them into legal difficulties, but we'll see!
I pesonally attempted to contact one of the most vocal supporters of the scheme - the author of the "implement EBLN" petition on the council website. I received no reply. It really doesn't look great if they are so fanatical about their agenda that they refuse to enter into conversation about it and show no curiosity about different points of view
For a lot of the opponents of 'liveable neighbourhoods' and the like there is no nuance either. Oxford, where I haven't lived for nearly three and a half decades, has been turned into a national battleground on social media, with people who neither live, work, study nor have a business there getting involved in the opposition to what is after all a local traffic management issue. Anyway you read the original of this when I published it on WordPress just over a year ago. Here's the extended version:
https://warwickvegan.substack.com/p/green-routes
You are spot on! Pardon the reference to my own post, but a year ago I wrote a similar take on the penalisation of the poor through such schemes.
https://open.substack.com/pub/irinametzler/p/the-butcher-the-baker-the-candlestick?r=z2dgx&utm_medium=ios
Cities are going to be pretty sustainable with all the citizens dead and gone.