For many young people passing their driving test is an important rite of passage to adulthood. Acquiring your first vehicle is a major advance in your personal freedom.. Yet today government, Councils and better off greens from the security of their homes in major cities lecture the rest of us on the wickedness of the car. The better off Green city dweller can rely more on the tube or mass transit and has the money for taxis when needed. The aim is to get people out of car ownership or to reduce their use of the car, and in the meantime to cow people into keeping quiet about their reliance on this flexible and most popular form of transport.
Many Councils work away to make their localities hostile to car traffic, blocking off roads, and deliberately creating unsafe juxtapositions of bus lanes and cycleways with highway, and altering junctions to increase tensions between different road users. I have recently reviewed the many journeys I need to make for work, for shopping and for social and pleasure purposes. All the ones I need to do in my home constituency area either cannot be done by train, or if attempted by train would take me between three times and ten times as long depending on the distance I needed to walk from the destination station, the frequency of the timetable and whether I needed first to go into Reading by train to then get out on another line. All these trips would also be dearer given the relative marginal costs of each mode of travel. Like many people I conclude if the train option is both much longer and dearer it is not a sensible choice. Added to that how would I manage a weekly shop on the train and carrying the groceries to and from stations.
In Central London I do mainly walk or use the tube where the shorter distances and the regularity of the trains makes those the best options now the roads have been so blocked and parking removed or priced so high.
Most people in my local area come to the conclusion they mainly use the car. Many take the children to school by car unless they live close to the school. They go on to their place of work in the car because most offices, shops and factories are not near a station. They take the family to a cafe or restaurant by car because it easier with many of the family items they might need in the car already. They visit Granny by car because Sunday transport services are so poor.
Sensible Councils understand we need to live with the car. Its flexibility is the ally of better town centres and shopping areas if the Council allows easy access and cheap or free parking. It is the ally of young people being able to enjoy their lives and make more social contacts, it is the friend of events, theatres and concerts wanting people to get back from them at hours of less public transport, and the stand by means to tackle many emergencies for a family. The car can get you to the chemist, the doctor or to the direct rescue of a family member in trouble.
Sensible car policy means designing junctions that encourage freer flow and segregates different types of road user to make them safer. It means building a better local network of strategic roads designed with the needs of the van, truck and car driver in mind, allowing more time and attention for pedestrians, bikes and buses on other local roads. Above all it needs more capacity to ease congestion and tensions on the ever popular roads. Roundabouts are better than traffic lights in most cases. Right hand turning traffic needs a separate lane. Main roads should have more priority, with traffic sensor controlled lights for side roads. There needs to be more bridge crossings over railway lines.
Governments local and national will discover that if they make it too difficult to get about by car there will be a voter backlash. The polls may tell us people want to use their cars less and are worried about air quality, safety and other important issues. If you look however at what people are actually doing they are relying more and more on their cars to buy the food, get to school and work and have some fun. Even before all lockdown is lifted traffic levels are back to pre pandemic levels whilst train and bus travel is struggling to get back to 50% of former levels.
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May 31, 2021
Exactly and nor is it true in general that cars are generally less āenvironmentalā or energy inefficient than trains and buses. When you do this comparison in the real world you have to consider actual train and bus occupancy (all day, both directions and not just rush hour), also staffing, stations, ticketing, track maintenance, the indirect routes, each end connections, inability to carry heavy or bulky items or change plans at the last minute and the constant stopping of bulky road blocking buses. Also cars can take 5 or even up to 8 people with luggage door to door stopping at the shops, school, office or some attraction on route. Almost always quicker, cheaper and more convenient.
May 31, 2021
āthe many journeys I need to make for work, for shopping and for social and pleasure purposes. ā
I remember when the grocer, butcher, baker and fishmonger were just around the corner along with a bike shop, bank, toy shop in the local parade of shops. No car needed.
Even with the advent of supermarkets, housewives walked home with their day to day shopping.
You could increase road capacity and build massive car parks but people might then moan when it blighted the area where they live.
May 31, 2021
Youngsters walked to primary school – with or without their mothers. There were less fatties in classrooms in those days.
For grammar school, we got the train. Local councils offered free transport passes for journeys over a certain distance.
May 31, 2021
The ICE car policy will not fall evenly. It will hit the working classes (in the north particularly) and BAMEs hardest.
Andy will be OK.
May 31, 2021
When many wives did not work and only had to do the washing, shopping, cooking, school run, child care, polish the brass handles and scrub the door step perhaps?
May 31, 2021
Lifelogic,
The days when one income was sufficient to raise a family.
May 31, 2021
The day when one income was sufficient to pay a mortgage. Before the Baby Boomers destroyed the property market by gobbling up second homes. And by investing in multiple buy to let properties. And by refusing to allow new homes to be built to accommodate the growing population – caused mainly by the Baby Boomers living much longer than previous generations.
May 31, 2021
Reply to Andy
The vast majority of landlords are Generation X. In any case, it is only a small minority of people who have rental properties and second homes – of which you are one.
May 31, 2021
Andy – back in the 60s and early 70s – the era I can talk about with much experience – I never came across any couples who could finance home buying with a single income mortgage. It was always roughly 3x main income, plus usually 50% of second income. Thats the sensible Building Society approach to managing young family finance. So as usual the Baby Boomer blame-game you spout is a load of ill-informed bollocx.
May 31, 2021
It was the deregulation of credit by Thatcher’s Tories which kicked off the property bubble, Andy, and once that genie is out of the bottle that’s that.
We went from loans capped at 2.5 times the greater income of a couple, and 10% deposit needed, to deposit-free silly multiples of joint incomes in very short order, sometimes even with an excess to buy furniture etc.
The market always snaps up every last brass farthing that buyers can afford, and it did.
Reply We had soaring house prices in the 1970s under Heath and the Labour government
May 31, 2021
Andy
Just for the record real house price inflation started towards the end of 1970 which was 51 years ago, so I think your memory may be a bit fuzzy, given your possible age at the time.
Very few people were purchasing second homes then, or indeed buy to let (due to rent controls), and mortgages were at 8% interest rates and difficult to get, with most Building Society’s wanting a 2 year good saving record before even considering people for a mortgage.
Most people then still required two incomes to purchase a house at that time, at least we did.
That generation aspired to house ownership because many of us had been bought up as kids in private rented accommodation, and just like now, we had to move out of London to find something we could afford.
Thus with aspiration and demand from the so called baby boomers for homes of their own, and with relaxation by Building Society’s of previously tight lending rules, prices started to rise, and a degree of panic purchasing to get on the so called property ladder caused the prices to double in 2-3 years, in some, but not all areas.
At that time few who wanted to work were out of work, and the economy was doing reasonably well, with wages rising constantly every year as inflation took hold, then we had some huge industrial upsets over the next few years ending up with a 3 day week and the economy in tatters, mortgage rates went up 3 times in one day I remember, to reach eventually something like 17% at one stage for a short period.
The Bank Mum and Dad at that time only existed for a few lucky individuals.
During those times fortune sometimes favoured the brave, but for many it did not work out as planned, so please let’s have a bit of balance with some facts with your claims and comments.
And yes I was there at the time, we got through it because we were prepared to work hard, save hard, and for a time had two jobs to make our dreams at the time come true.
Reply There was house price inflation in the 1960s. It took off throughout the 70s when there a high general inflation as well under Labour/Libs
May 31, 2021
I agree that they need to relax planning or reduce population growth. But a let property is still being used. You either rent the property or you rent the money to buy the property. Hammond/Osborne/Sunak’s idiotically high stamp duty going up another Ā£15K shortly. This deters people from buying unless they know they will stay in the same home for many years. Many people do not have this stability of employment so better to rent. Or cannot afford the house they want and do not want to waste stamp duty buying a smaller one first.
May 31, 2021
Now two are needed – but also that is taxed to pay for the flood of those arriving – that PP is doing NOTHING to stop. 480 arrived in two days ( Friday and Saturday ). How much have they already cost us – and how much more every month when their whole families arrive to be put in a new house for us to pay for? And how many more will arrive this week? It is clear that our own govt wants us wiped out.
May 31, 2021
Correct, bigneil, and Sadiq Khan is immune to voter backlash, so there is nothing to stop his London destroying road-blocking.
May 31, 2021
The scientific data shows that millions of women would rather spend more time at home with their kids and / or give up their job and / or wish they had had married and had kids instead of being married to their ‘career’
It’s a balancing act. There are misogynist men who make life awful for women (and so for themselves and other men and children) but also feminist women who make life awful for men (and so for themselves and other women and children).
May 31, 2021
In reply to Andy who seems to have had his right to reply removed.
Correct me if I am wrong but do you not have a second property in France.
Those that invested in property to let were filling a gap in the market. They did not buy to keep empty.
We know you hate pensioners and wish their demise. Do we now add Baby Boomers to your death list. You have a very strange outlook and should possibly seek help.
May 31, 2021
@Ed M; In the past, before the UK de-industrialised, offshored or IT scrapped entire departments, mothers could often combine both a well paid part-time factory job with family commitments, either on a day shift or evening/twilight shift, perhaps even doing a full 8+ hours when their children were of pre-school age, there being LA/company provided on-site (or at least local) child care that was arranged to fit in with factory hours. The of course, as has been mentioned, many families lived in affordable council houses, so there was less need for that second income anyway.
May 31, 2021
Yes EdM a reversion to a single earner married family, or whatever arrangement is chosen, has an enormous number of pluses associated with it.
I assume that when women decide the time is ripe to have children they prioritise the children above all else. They realise they cannot have a career at one and the same time. Even when they think they can, it is the children who miss out.
All we have to do is arrange working life so that the earnings of one parent can cover the lifestyle of two earners and many of the social ills of our current society would begin to melt away. I must add that realistically I do not see it happening.
May 31, 2021
@Agricola,
Great comment. Can’t be imposed legally but we do need more Conservatives such as Jordan Peterson speaking the truth about things such things (at least this is the kind of topic he covers – and based on scientific data).
Sadly, our lives are being ruined, to a degree, by a minority of feminists and misogynists (Conservatism has always celebrated the power and equality of women but at same time recognises that men and women are – wonderfully – different, as well, and that we need to work well together like in a delicate ecosystem that can easily be unbalanced in particular by feminists and the misogynists who we need to stand up to with the the kind of arguments of Jordan Peterson).
May 31, 2021
@Jerry,
Apologies for being thick, but didn’t quite get your point ..
May 31, 2021
“Reply There was house price inflation in the 1960s. It took off throughout the 70s when there a high general inflation as well under Labour/Libs”
I recollect a colleague of mine in Saudi Arabia sold his house in 1969 before moving out there. He realised what a mistake he had made 3 years late at the end of his contract when he needed to repurchase and house prices had shot up. (Doubled?)
May 31, 2021
@Ed M; My point was, there is no need for a ‘balancing act’ if the socio-economic mix is correct.
June 1, 2021
@Jerry,
Thank you.
I am single – never married, no kids – and reading books about how to meet right person (woman) and have a happy marriage. Its sooo complicated! My A Levels, University Degree and Driving Test were way easier … How do we teach our young and people in general to prepare as best as possible for marriage – as this v much includes the subject you raise amongst many other things – and can have such PROFOUND results on people’s lives and the well being and economy of the country overall. Best.
May 31, 2021
Peter, yes, fine if the shops are near enough and the woman doesn’t have to work full time to make ends meet. Where I live there is no way I could walk to the shops. They are 10 miles away. There are many areas where facilities are miles away. We don’t all live in urban suburbia and rural areas have more houses now but no facilities. Some of us prefer it that way and don’t mind using our car to shop. We should have the freedom to live where we want to. Town life is not for me.
May 31, 2021
When I was young back in the fifties the only person who had a car for.miles around was the local doctor – the rest of us got by by pony and trap or horse and cart. Neither did we have electricity at that time either.. don’t know what’s going to happen if we suffer some setback happens and we have no say fuel for cars anymore?
May 31, 2021
Not all all of us can afford holidays abroad and some of us rely on cars to venture out of town to the country for a change of scenery and less noise. However this small pleasure is being denied us now since our local Council has closed so many local roads and caused congestion. It is now so difficult to to drive anywhere and takes so long that I have given up. Is this the way to live in the 21st century, losing the will to enjoy an afternoon out. Our Councils will pay for this at the next local elections.
May 31, 2021
+1
May 31, 2021
So many city dwelling commentators are trying to reduce our use of the private car so it’s good to see an article from an influential politician in praise of it.
For young mothers with small children and people in jobs which are not in a fixed workplace, the car brings essential flexibility and for everyone it brings freedom and economy so there’s no wonder people are so keen to get and keep them.
May 31, 2021
I just listened on Spectator TV to an interview the excellent and surely quite right Prof. Sunetra Gupta. So why exactly was Neil OāBrian MP (PPE needless to say, ex advisor to the appalling G Osborne and T May & now levelling up minister) viscerally attacking her and the excellent Dr. Clare Craig too? What on earth does this deluded dope know on this topic? Or is it that he actually thinks they are right and this have to be attacked and discredited in this deluded and unpleasant way? Give me Gupta and Craig views every time over this nasty & deluded MP.
May 31, 2021
Mr OāBrienās behaviour has been a disgrace. Presumably he thought it the best way to ingratiate himself with Boris, and to be fair to him that seems to have worked & heās had a promotion. But his constituency association should review whether heās really the sort of person we want as a Conservative MP.
May 31, 2021
I agree.
May 31, 2021
Richard 1
“Really that sort of person”
They could but they won’t. That is real problem now in that the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.
The whole criteria for selection across all parties is seriously flawed. That is why we end up with clones mark 1&2 so basically nothing changes. Central and constituency offices play the percentage game , doesn’t matter who and what you get, as long as you win.
May 31, 2021
Having said that O’Brian does recognise that we need reduce the number of low value university courses. Indeed we should, by about 75% – or rather cull 75% of the cheap loans people are getting for largely worthless degrees in largely worthless subjects at second rate universities. Indeed also many duff degrees at some top universities.
May 31, 2021
Lockdown and social distancing is over. From what I’m seeing the People have decided already.
Boris would be wise to go with the People.
The scientists have a record of being wrong most of the time.
May 31, 2021
and yet the media are all out saying a 3rd wave is coming – UK covid deaths today… one (1)
May 31, 2021
Hard to explain why governments did not stem car ownership earlier.
With loans becoming an important method of car purchase and unstemmed immigration the number of private vehicles on the road has shot up.
Japan, ( I believe) forestalled this problem by only allowing car purchase only by those with enough parking space.
Not a terribly draconian rule considering what Boris has been prepared to do.
However, IDS was right in what he said about dogs and bones and inevitably people will be deprived of the car they had come to rely on.
Maybe the govt. should not have covid terrified voters re public transport?
May 31, 2021
That’s a great idea. You can own as many cars as you have off-road parking for. New business opportunities for garages to be leased, an end to roads being narrowed by double-parked vehicles. Now how do we get JR to propose it……?
May 31, 2021
+1
May 31, 2021
He or she who denighs a citizen his right to cheap personal transport is taking a big political risk. As your article suggests the groundswell already exists. It is a matter of getting the balance of private or public transport right, and making the transition from one to the other hassle free.
A suggestion in your case. A minimally polluting vehicle for travel in the constituency for work and domestic needs. A vast free parking facility at the tube/rail station to encourage its use into the city. When you get there, walk or taxi. Tube/Rail for trips to the airport or distant destinstions, while recognising that when you get there you may need flexible transport so it could make more sense to do it all by car. However having spent half an hour on the M5 yesterday, I would not wish it on anyone. The return journey on white/yellow roads was really enjoyable, villages, cricket matches and the countyside in bloom.
As you imply, local councils in the UK fail to cater for the motor car and bewail the decline of their commercial centres, further exacerbated by on line shopping. They also actively penalise the car user as an easy cash cow. They deserve the result they get. You get the quality of council you vote for, maybe central government should give them an outline plan of what is required.
May 31, 2021
Denies, one day I will learn to spell. I blame it on living in two languages but that does not stand up.
May 31, 2021
As you say āHe or she who denighs a citizen his right to cheap personal transport is taking a big political risk.ā
Indeed, and the same applies to government denial of cheap and reliable energy for home heating and lighting. The Net Zero lunacy is political, economic and even environmental insanity.
May 31, 2021
LL
“The Net Zero lunacy is political, economic and even environmental insanity.”
…..and also vote killer, as Johnson will find out.
May 31, 2021
too true
May 31, 2021
agricola
Easy cash cow.
Well said
Always has and always will be.
We all grizzle about it but still pay up for our one little bit of freedom and personal choice.
The accumalative weight of all these EVs will tear the a### out of our roads over a period of time. Who will pay for it? We all will. Situation normal.
May 31, 2021
Much of what you say could be interpreted as being in praise of on demand personal transport rather than the car per se. The other day I passed a queue of cars, around 20, being held up by road works and noting that although every single one of them could hold 5 people they all only had the driver I wondered why we don’t use scooters/mopeds more, they are much cheaper than a car. Weather is obviously an issue as is the need to sometimes have one or more passengers, perhaps the lack of consideration from other road users is a concern.
The heart of the problem though I think is population, we have far too many people for our size and considering the attitude of governments this situation will never get better only worse.
Driving is no longer a pleasurable experience, quite the reverse, and being stuck in a traffic jam is not my idea of freedom.
So what is the solution?
May 31, 2021
An elderly friend of mine has severe health problems (including cancer and renal failure) which require frequent tests and treatments – because of intense pain, amongst other problems, she is largely confined to a wheelchair. She has to be transported to and from hospitals from her home – and last week, she was required to travel between two hospitals on two separate days. The hospitals are about 15 miles apart, and there was no offer of ambulance assistance.
All of this had to be accomplished by her husband and her son, in their cars – I can’t imagine why they didn’t tell her just to hop on a bike and get on with it.
May 31, 2021
SM. Brilliant last paragraph!
May 31, 2021
SM . . . ” and there was no offer of ambulance assistance. ” – ever seen photos of Dover when the replacements are being brought in by BF? – – multiple Ambulances and crews lined up waiting for them. Paid for by the taxpayer – so the replacements can be prioritized.
June 1, 2021
I have been in the exact same circumstance twice with my parents though had to travel 70+ miles each way just to get to their home first and blow a day’s income each time.
I am not suggesting everyone ditch cars and take to pedals etc but that people are perhaps far too ready to take a privilege and make it an entitlement, a right no matter the cost or inconvenience to others, and an unwillingness to learn from others, try new approaches.
Every school day our road is blocked by inconsiderate parents who can’t walk a mile with their little darlings even in the finest weather. No delivery or emergency vehicle would be able to get to our end of the road if needed. One day it was needed and there were a paramedic, ambulance and 3 police vehicles (it must have been a slow day) which blocked twenty school runners in for several hours. Much fun but only a Pyrrhic victory.
We need to adapt to the increased pressure of over-growing population on already stretched resources.
May 31, 2021
The solution is more road space, better junction design, over passes under passes, double decker roads, stop blocking the roads with bus, bike lanes, āenvironmentalā areas and anti-car traffic lights. Also stagger work and school times to spread the load. Road charging will come too as the gov will need to replace fuel duty revenue for electric cars. Which will deter peak time travelling by cost.
May 31, 2021
More parking spaces too. Much driving could be saved if people did not have to drive round & round looking for rationed parking spaces.
May 31, 2021
Lifelogic
Unfortunately I agree, but do not think it will end there, VED may also yet to be introduced for electric cars, as well as some sort of Vat for away from home charging.
They have to make up the tax loss from ICE somehow.
May 31, 2021
@Alan – Full VAT is already charged on public charging
May 31, 2021
dixie
Thanks for the info, why am I not surprised.
June 1, 2021
I had assumed some level of VAT was charged but I hadn’t realised until the other week when I read that two public charging providers had lost a case to only charge the 5% rate. HMRC insisted on the full wack and other providers were already including the full rate in charges.
May 31, 2021
Am just looking at a Andre Reiu concert coming from Venice and so proud that I am European. However the thing is there are thousands of people at the concert, thousands, and not one car in sight- makes me wonder about all of this talk about cars? So instead lets hear it from Reiu ‘Ode to Joy’
May 31, 2021
Blandell
None in Zermatt either, all parked up outside the town in a very large out of Town car park, entry by electric type golf buggies or rail.
June 1, 2021
define “European”.
May 31, 2021
Also, regarding car ownership, successive govts have relentlessly removed and centralised shops, offices, doctorās surgeries etc etc so that whereas at one time people could have reached all they needed on foot, or by bike, a car became a necessity.
Of course now no public or private transport will be needed.
We will do everything on our computers!
And good luck with that!!
May 31, 2021
Yesterday, here, we witnessed a kind of madness.
Brought on no doubt by the lockdown and job losses and money worries and stress. And possibly the idea that the Left has won?
It was quite anarchic and disturbing.
If Johnson, as rumoured, thinks he is going to imprison us all again …then I think he will have a fight on his hands!
May 31, 2021
Everhopeful – Remember those videos showing hotels full of illegals? While WE were under threat of arrest, court, massive fines and criminal records for life – just for going outside – coachloads of them were being ferried by luxury coaches all over the country. We were under effective house arrest because the govt didn’t want anyone to see coachloads of them being moved all over. Hundreds of millions of our cash has been spent on putting illegals in hotels. A financial burden until they get to be the majority – which won’t be long at the rate PP is waving them in.
May 31, 2021
Yes.
I did wonder if we were being made to āface the wallā while the govt. carried out its plan.
I also read that 5G was another project they didnāt want us to see?
Wonder what sort of a world the high ups think they will inhabit when all this comes to fruition.
I mean, do they not have families?
May 31, 2021
Bigneil – I fully agree with this comment and others you have made reference this subject.
However PP is a very forthright person therefore I have no doubt she is CONTROLLED by the Globalist UK Establishment on what she is allowed to do. Similar with all ministers, they HAVE to follow the narrative. As you are aware,if truthful comments are made on this site but do not follow the narrative they do not get published.
Also remember, News is not what happens, it is what a small group of “people”decide is the news.
May 31, 2021
Everhopeful. You are right. Our GP surgery is considering keeping the telephone appointment scheme running because they think it has been a great success. I’ve spoken to nobody that agrees. I don’t suppose they will ask their patients what they think. We don’t count.
May 31, 2021
+1
We just fund the whole shebang with our taxes!
May 31, 2021
Indeed, perhaps it’s a success for them, so thats all right then.
Not as if they have to pay out for advertising to get customers is it.
May 31, 2021
And the modern internal combustion engine is efficient and clean.
May 31, 2021
Giles B
Steady on mate that is pushing the boundaries , kipper and his fillets do not want to know or hear such comments.
You like the majority are out of step with the world. Not. Two left feet.
Welcome to the club it has a thriving membership!!
May 31, 2021
Very true ā if youāre not GREEN, youāre a racist, nationalist, bigot, troglodyteā¦.oh and probably working class
May 31, 2021
This is not about the car or ICE propelled autonomous personal transport, It never has been.
I am now absolutely convinced that what we are seeing is the rise of a politics and by extension politicians and bureaucrats whose primary purpose is to destroy freedom in all its forms including our ability to move seamlessly, without State intervention, from A to B under our own steam.
This puts our kind host in a most terrible position. He is an MP for a party in government that is working with Labour’s allies to carry out this attack on our world and on our being and yet he attacks it on the core policies of this government
I became suspicious of Johnson and his motives when I saw the leader of the TUC outside No.10 with Sunak and the head of the CBI. That was a public expression of loyalty to one of Labour’s main backers and Johnson’s rejection of public sector reform. Big State, authoritarian politics is now in our faces 24-7 endorsed by a man now PM who has always declared himself to be a libertarian.
The downing of Thatcher was the moment this nation’s leaders decided to take this country in a direction that will lead to its destruction and by extension our freedoms. It was the day the Tory party died. Labour died decades before
There is a solution. Stop voting Tory. Stop voting Labour. Continuing to back these two ghost parties that fight to protect the status quo is destroying who and what we are
Free-lunch politics is destroying our freedoms, destroying self-reliance and destroying personal responsibility. That is the Socialist way. State ownership of your body, your soul and your mind
May 31, 2021
What else can we do to overthrow the relentless nailing down of our lives, our freedom, our rights, our lifestyles,?
May 31, 2021
Somehow in between individual freedom and the political system lies corporatism. All paths lead to it.
Let’s push private buy-to-rent out of the system with silly rules about evictions (now back to 4 months but why not back to 2?), certificates for everything and tax rules which push individuals out together with 28% CGT. Compare with large corporates which can average out bad and good tenants and squeeze small landlords out.
We’ll end up with transport being controlled neither by big government per se not by individuals but by corporates charging at the behest of friends in government, with revolving doors etc. for Cameron types.
May 31, 2021
@DOM; Driving in the UK has NEVER truly been a right, it has always been a privilege, first controlled by regulations and then by the addition of a mandatory licence, there are no “Freedoms” being taken away as we have never had that absolute freedom in the first place! Before the pandemic if someone wanted to travel from Lands End to London, Manchester or Inverness or wherever there was nothing to stop them, if one meets the standard then the personal
chariot…sorry, motor car is available, otherwise there is no law that stops someone from using a private hire taxi, going by coach/bus, catching a train/aeroplane.The only people trying to take -others- rights away are those who think everyone either drives or should be driving, thus public transport is not necessary or needed, nor understand that pedestrians actually do have rights, especially were there is no pavement (side-walk).
May 31, 2021
“There is a solution. Stop voting Tory. Stop voting Labour. Continuing to back these two ghost parties that fight to protect the status quo is destroying who and what we are”
I spoiled my ballot papers in the recent local elections, but realise that doing so (or voting either Tory or Labour) won’t make the slightest difference. Dominic Cummins may have shown himself to be a nasty piece of work, but he was right about one thing: having the choice of voting for Johnson or Corbyn is no choice at all. He was also right about Hancock, but that’s another matter. Until we have a REAL alternative party the destruction will continue, and Common Purpose infested local government (in particular) will keep targeting the motorist, knowing their jobs and pensions won’t be affected. I feel a bit sorry for our host as he clearly doesn’t fit in with the party he represents these days…
May 31, 2021
Dave Ward
“I feel a bit sorry for our host as he clearly doesnāt fit in with the party he represents these daysā¦”
I don’t know why he sticks with that lot. Perhaps it’s a question for John Redwood. Personally I think he’d make a brilliant independent.
Boris Johnson and that lot who call themselves conservatives are going to cause a mother of all trouble in this country, and we’ll be ‘avin them.
May 31, 2021
True DOM, more state equals less freedom. As state generally does everything so badly, less freedom equals more monumental screwups. Leading eventually to a major reset of society, hopefully minus the french need for revolution to change anything.
May 31, 2021
Freedom of choice is a dead concept with this government
May 31, 2021
DOM
Agreed. I hope either everyone votes to kill off these incumbent traitors, or no one votes at all so Her Majesty cannot form a government.
May 31, 2021
One of the achievements of modern development has been cars that gave us personal mobility, which liberated us, the days of being locked into areas you might have thought were long gone, but with the environmental totalitarianism being foisted on us it seems not, it is something they want to bring back. Of course not for them though.
May 31, 2021
Iām not sure about that.
Our smaller, āvillageā lives were based on fewer people and far more accountability and all needs were met in every village.
Governments virtually evicted us from our small communities and centralised everything, forcing us to travel to school, to work, to hospital etc.
Then, of course, they shut down many bus routes and stations.
They also used the now familiar propaganda to encourage us to move.
Manipulation and coercion. Just like now.
They hate and despise us but just canāt leave us alone!
May 31, 2021
Yes, and I wonder how many variants of Covid will be found to prohibit international travel and holidays?
May 31, 2021
Many I imagine! Searching through the goat entrails and smoke!
VoilĆ ! āThe Lesser Spiked Undulating Wangle Variantā.
No more holidays.
No more travel for us ordinary mortals.
(I believe that rich celebs are flying to and from Australia with no trouble).āļø
May 31, 2021
The polls may tell us people want to use their cars less and are worried about air quality, safety and other important issues. If you look however at what people are actually doing they are relying more and more on their cars to buy the food, get to school and work and have some fun
And here is the problem with modern government – focussed on polling and not conviction. Those polled rarely tell the truth, the questions are loaded and the poll subject is often not in the mainstream.
Our leaders need to trust their guts more and polls less. Voters mostly votes pocket first, convenience second.
May 31, 2021
yes we want to use cars less, but most will say ‘I cannot do without it’
May 31, 2021
They have a habit of asking leading questions. Like to you believe we should use renewable energy? Do you think we should do something about climate change? In these one answer surveys they get the results they want and then say it’s what the general public want. No. It’s what they want us to say to implement what they want.
May 31, 2021
Precisely what I dislike about YouGov.
May 31, 2021
@NS; “the problem with modern government ā focussed on polling and not conviction. “
Govts and Parties who focus on political convictions rather than polling tend not to remain in office, telling the ‘truth’ (as they see it) hasn’t been popular for years, Callaghan found that out in 1979 whilst Major, Brown and Clegg rediscovered the fact in 1997 2010 and 2015 respectfully…
May 31, 2021
Narrow Shoulders
+1
May 31, 2021
It depends what questions you ask. A recent poll in the US found over half the people (56%) wouldn’t be prepared to spend more than $20 a month on climate issues, and a third would spend nothing at all.
May 31, 2021
well said John. we need more people discussing this.
the anti car nutters in the public sector and politics are going too far.
abd.org.uk are broadly correct.
May 31, 2021
Sir John
I agree with all you say.
On Friday, we drive the 20 odd miles to our sonās house to take the three grandchildren to Chessington world of Adventures, by car. The roads were heaving with cars, the Chessington car parks were full, as is always, nearby Wisley. The trip could not have been done by public transport.
When our children were young weād drive from the outskirts of Greater London into Central London to visit museums. Once car parking got too expensive, we stopped going. Going by train and tube was too time consuming and with three children – too expensive.
Where we are, formerly Surrey, but eaten up by London, so now a London borough – people drive, thatās the way of living here.
Over the decades we have all been able to work further from home, and thanks to the Greenwich judgement, go to school out of your borough/county. Grown up children move away – they need to be visited. Cars in modern life are necessary and convenient.
May 31, 2021
Sharon,
A 71 bus would take you into Chessington World of Adventures (formerly Zoo) car park 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
If buses donāt suit then a train from Waterloo to Chessington South and a five minute walk would get you there.
So there is public transport available.
You say you live in a London borough. In that case an Oyster card will give you access to buses trains and Tubes.
May 31, 2021
Peter
Sharon said she visited her son first to pickup the grandchildren, then took the grandchildren to the venue with all of their stuff, probably some food and drink included, possibly extra jumpers coats, then did the same by return, if all this was to be done by public transport (4 separate journey’s) how long do you think they would have at CWA.
I well remember taking our kids out for the day when they were younger, needed everything but the kitchen sink for a few years, would have been stupid by public transport, and that was when we were very fit and able ourselves.
May 31, 2021
and a London Travel Card now costs Ā£12.70 per day – family of 4 to go into central London is Ā£50.
May 31, 2021
Fred H
In this instance, grandparents aged 60+ from a London Borough could travel for free to Chessington.
Children under 10 travel free on buses. Under 5s travel free on all London transport.
May 31, 2021
The trip could have been done by bus & train. You just chose not to do it by bus & train. There is a difference.
May 31, 2021
Yes the difference is time convenience and cost.
May 31, 2021
Andy,
+1
May 31, 2021
It was evidently much cheaper to do it by car, let alone the convenience and time saving.
May 31, 2021
Sir John – – one of the best, most logical, and important discussions we’ve had on your blog. It is about time ALL MPs read and understood your points. Thank you for raising it. Transport is such an important issue for bread-winners, mothers, and children going to school and sport.
May 31, 2021
+1
May 31, 2021
Your last paragraph says it all Sir John. Those councillors and politicians who are trying to kill the use of the private car are living in a bubble just the same as the Lib Dems were at the last election. They will wake up one morning and find out nobody wants to listen to them, just like the Lib Dems on Friday 13th December 2019
Yes, one can live in central London without a car, but it is hardly possible in any other city and impossible everywhere else.
London is full of little bubbles just like that wretched flat in No 10. Who cares about who sorted it out. Boris had enough on his plate trying to understand and get to grips with the pandemic.
We have to suffer the pathetic media blowing most of these bubbles.
May 31, 2021
a family living outside the central area like 95% do, have a nightmare managing everyday things without a car.
May 31, 2021
3.5m people voted Lib Dem in 2019. Nearly 1m voted Green. 10m voted for Labour. Combined this is more than voted Conservative.
Do not confuse a voting system in which your views are massively over-represented – and many others are massively under-represented – with nobody listening to anyone else.
May 31, 2021
Andy
I wonder how many of those of whom you speak own and drive an electric car ?
Answer on a postage stamp please.
May 31, 2021
You left out all those who voted for various narrow gauge parties and a large number who were too lazy to vote. However the conservative got a larger percentage of the vote than any other single party and have an eighty seat majority. Come back in four years time and have another moan about it.
May 31, 2021
The real vote is the 30 million cars in the country. Must 8nclude a lot if Labour and Lib Dems. Even Caroline Lucy’s has admitted to owning a car.
May 31, 2021
Lucas! The curse of autocorrect.
May 31, 2021
Unfortunately, I live on a road with two schools and a secondary academy. About a thousand children and their mothers on the “school run” use the road to get to and from the schools. If you want to nip out somewhere for an appointment or replenish the milk or coffee etc, forget it during the rush hours. I have seen head-on collisions, school buses mounting the pavement and hitting the lampost, road rage incidents (several) people’s driveways being blocked (frequently), for those who have to park their cars on the road, missing wing mirrors and door damage, several children have been hurt trying to cross the road – not to mention the tremendous air and noise pollution. Which on a bad day can make you gag. Residents much appreciate the half term and school holidays….
I look forward to ten million EV’s on our roads, which will make a major difference to air quality. Effectively they will become renewable energy storage devices and will soak up the wind/solar farm output, as well as only costing about Ā£7 to charge up for 350 miles. Or zero, if you have the solar panels on your roof.
May 31, 2021
SG
I live on a busy main road as well, so also get air pollution but more importantly noise pollution.
The chaos you describe close to you is all about management, or rather non management and stupid planning.
Electric cars will not stop drivers being or behaving in a stupid or dangerous manner, Indeed being silent an electric car is possibly a more dangerous threat to pedestrians.
Yes it would be great for us as well if everything went electric, with gains with regards to less air pollution and especially noise, but I realise that you cannot run until you can walk and I am afraid that is what the Government are trying to do, just wait until you see the chaos of electric cars running out of juice all over the place through lack of charging points causing chaos on our roads.
Until electric cars can pick up a charge from the road surface whilst driving, the range limit fear will deter many, unless that is they can afford to run two cars, one for local journeys when home charging is sufficient, and another perhaps hybrid for longer distances, in the meantime the government it would seem would want to scrap perfectly usable and low cost ICE cars as soon as they can, with penalising VED taxes, fuel taxes, emission and congestion charging.
May 31, 2021
S G
Get real please.
You still wont see that number of cars on the road because will are being taxed to high heaven not to have them.
That in itself will present a problem on where is all the lost revenue from the existing vehicles going to come from?
May 31, 2021
I’m sure you realise EVs will not help any of these problems, except the pollution will be pushed elsewhere. The EVs are more dangerous to children because they are so quiet.
The cheaper fuel costs will be recouped, and then some, by selling off the roads so you can pay a global corporation to use them. You can guess which roads will be most expensive to use: the busy ones. Another working-parent tax to pay.
The problems you note are the inevitable result of needing two working parents to pay the mortgage. The solution is for the school and LA to provide better drop-off facilities for parents, along with other initiatives like walking crocodiles for young children.
May 31, 2021
The ‘Government’ (of whatever colour) will have to make up for the loss of income from fuel taxes, so I wouldn’t bet too much on ‘electricity’ being the cheaper option going forward. I suspect “pay-per-mile” taxes will kill any savings from running an EV. It will all be done for good “Eco” reasons of course….
May 31, 2021
Sakara, those EVs you hope for will still park across your drive.
As a seven year old I had a mile walk and a five mile bus ride from and to my prep school. When I was ten it was two buses and a tram to get to school for 08.45. As there were clubs ,sport, and shooting twice a week getting home could be a bus ride into the city and another out, 20 miles in all. The family car was more monumental and for tinkering with than daily use, or so if seemed to me. I can see no logical reason why modern day kids cannot conduct themselves to and from school. There is no need to use a parent and a car to do it. The kids could learn a bit of self reliance in the process. Rather than block your drive they might set fire to your dustbins once they knew which colour was flamable.
May 31, 2021
Freedom. How socialist hate that word. Freedom to travel unheeded an athema to the ruling g classes.
Pricing us off the roads, freezing us to death in our homes and taxing our ability to travel abroad.
This pandemic has really shone a torch on the governments attitude to Freedom.
Don’t you dare try and extend the lockdown after 21st June.
May 31, 2021
They will!
Whispers of lies already making the case.
Will the sane ones stand by silent again?
I see that my observations ( last year) were correct re shopkeepers etc being told of the first imprisonment some time before it happened.
They were sweet talked with āThree weeks to flatten..ā and lured with cash.
They stepped right into the trap and it is soon āpay upā day! Rents due.
May 31, 2021
+1
May 31, 2021
Regarding yesterday’s deleted comment on adverse effects of taking the experimental vaccines:
What aspect of my comments were untrue?
reply Death rates looked high. I have to make decisions at speed and err on side of caution.
May 31, 2021
The figures are there for anyone to see on MHRA and VAERS (US).
May 31, 2021
Understood – Numbers were taken from Gov site
May 31, 2021
Sorry…that was meant for JR.
I know you must have looked or you would not have posted .
May 31, 2021
+1
May 31, 2021
‘Erring on the side of caution’ with Covid 19 meant going for a high estimate. The government admitted over-estimating those death figures at least three times. But ‘erring on the side of caution’ with the vaccines means going for a low estimate of death figures? I wonder why that should be.
May 31, 2021
Good points
May 31, 2021
The anti-car brigade are mostly the rich urban middle-classes who can afford expensive electric cars which they can plug in to their own charging stations on the drives of their expensive houses. Ditto the anti-gas-boiler crowd who are rich enough to install heat pumps in their large gardens. The exact opposite of the levelling-up agenda – push the poor people even further down.
Speaking of which, what’s happened to our old chum Andy ?
May 31, 2021
gone to his French bolt-hole I imagine?
May 31, 2021
Roy Gainger
Indeed true Roy. It’s braggers like that with too much money who will help Johnson bugger things up for the rest of us.
Ā£30 -Ā£40K debt for an EV that will be worthless after a couple of years, Ā£40k debt to keep (slightly) warm.
I predict a riot.
Still, on the bright side, Johnson is doing his best with his vote killer policies to ensure the demise of the conservative party and succeeding by the looks of things. At the next GE we can kick them out.
May 31, 2021
Spot On
May 31, 2021
Well Iām not urban, thatās for sure. And I am not anti-car. I have a car – a hybrid – and I use it.
Unlike most of you I see no problem with electric cars. Electric cars are a perfectly sensible option for the vast majority of motorists the vast majority of the time.
And the problems you all identify about electrics cars – the high upfront cost for example – are things which can be dealt with by government policy.
I am also not anti-train or anti-bus or anti-cycling or anti-pedestrian. We should be making ALL forms of travel easier, cheaper and cleaner.
May 31, 2021
The rapid abolition of the ICE car and any punitive charges levelled against it will see the greatest social inequalities that any government has inflicted on BAMEs and the working class.
It will not be tolerated.
And now masks and social distancing are no longer being tolerated either. The dam has burst and our people have tasted freedom and Boris would be wise to go with the people and not the scientists (who have been proven wrong time and again – most recently that the virus “didn’t originate in the Wuhan lab.” Who did they think they were kidding ?)
May 31, 2021
NLA
“Boris would be wise to go with the people”
……except that we don’t want him.
May 31, 2021
I note you only talk about walking, public transport or the car. Why not use a bike? Ebikes now may cycling much more accessible and with panniers mounted you can carry your shopping.
May 31, 2021
OK you mums out there – are there any reading this? How do you fancy leaving the kids alone, ride your bike a few miles to the supermarket, do a week’s shopping – an hour later fill the 2-storey panniers and the rucksack on your back- — ride home. You are having a laugh.
May 31, 2021
“Added to that how would I manage a weekly shop on the train and carrying the groceries to and from stations.”
Perhaps you could ask one of your constituents who has no car, can not drive, how they manage, personal shopping trolleys, like people used in the 1950s and ’60s perhaps? Local to me I used to see an older lady regularly cycling with one of those covered cycle trailers designed to carry small children, and indeed I first though she must be caring for her grandchildren, turns out she was actually transporting her thrice-weekly shopping! Prior to the pandemic many supermarkets were reporting a decrease in the number of people doing a single big weekly shop, indeed some ‘fresh’ product lines do not even have a weeks shelf/storage life. and of course since the pandemic online sales have gone through the roof.
“Many take the children to school by car unless they live close to the school.”
Perhaps we should be more like the USA in the provision and use of dedicated School buses, without any questions regarding distance and parental income?
“They take the family to a cafe or restaurant by car”
Many people also book a taxi, with the added benefit that there is no need for a designated driver or someone taking their chance…
Don’t get me wrong, I support car use, being very much a 5* petrol-head but some of the pro car arguments are out on another universe.
I favour better planning, better road designs (and no that doesn’t necessarily mean more roundabouts [1]), I favour more edge/out of town shopping and business parks with free car parking provision but with a cheap -if not free- frequent bus service alternative from residential areas in and out of the retail and business areas [2] for those who have no car or choose not to use one. Both parking and bus services could be subsidised by either a local sales tax or via a LA top-slice from UBR. We need to support local shops but loose our love affair with the “High Street”.
[1] locally we have edge of town retail areas serviced off an arterial duel carriageway, by either traffic lights or roundabouts, generally speaking the traffic light junctions cause less problems at busy times, phasing can be changed by in-road sensors when traffic is heavy (in effect the one out-one in principle), runabouts just clog up with conflicting movements
[2] as any redevelopment takes place we need to make more use of zoning, rather than trying to mix
May 31, 2021
Many around where I live have found a novel way of getting shopping home – which I thoroughly disapprove of, but the police do absolutely nothing to stop shopping trolleys being stolen and left in dangerous places.
May 31, 2021
I’m with you on this one, Jerry. Not anti-car but aware that more alternatives are needed. E.g. modern trams, as a number of cities now have, such as Sheffield, which make getting around the place a much pleasanter experience than by bus. Even in SJR’s ‘semi-rural’ constituency (not for much longer at the rate of house-building here), there would surely be opportunities for them between Wokingham and Reading, and along the A4 to Maidenhead.
Business rates and lockdowns look to have done for the high street, I fear. Edge-of-town shopping areas are here to stay. We do indeed need better planning, though I’m not sure the government’s new housing bill is going to help there.
May 31, 2021
JR
“Governments local and national will discover that if they make it too difficult to get about by car there will be a voter backlash”
Blimey, do my eyes deceive me Mr Redwood ? A politician finally admitting Boris’s policies are certain vote killers.
“……train and bus travel is struggling to get back to 50% of former levels. ”
This might have something to do with Train operators getting nasty and working a scam, such as : using covid as a woke excuse to not staff ticket booths at stations, thus providing no acceptable means to purchase tickets – then fining people at the destination despite attempts to pay the fare. ‘Sorry you can’t buy a ticket because the ticket office is closed due to covid but we’re still fining you for not having a ticket’
THEN ! Johnson gives ’em a thinly disguised bail out.
May 31, 2021
What ever is “a woke excuse”?
May 31, 2021
Too many cars
Not enough roads and parking
It’s cheaper to get rid of cars than to build infrastructure.
I hope the car industry agrees
May 31, 2021
you don’t mention the need for all these journeys? The cars are driven often with one occupant, so the problem is why drive it? Answer – what choice is there?
May 31, 2021
”Too many cars”
Number of registered passenger cars in Europe 2018 by country
Germany 47m
Italy 39m
UK 32m
France 32m
Spain 24m
https://www.statista.com/statistics/452449/european-countries-number-of-registered-passenger-cars/
June 1, 2021
@glen cullen – amusingly there are more cars registered in the UK than there are driving licences
Reply There should be – taxi firms, company and government cars etc as well as most families having one or more for family members.
May 31, 2021
Todayās topic is an interesting one. I guess there needs to be a balance between infrastructure spending to ensure car flow is maintained. Yet avoid excessive car use that simply clogs up roads and generates more pollution.
I accept that in some areas the public transport network can be frustrating and not a practical solution.
As an Architect (designer) I work with many agencies inc Highways when traffic modelling is carried out to understand the impact on the local road network.
Electric cars are ideal for relatively short distances within an urban area but for long distance problematic.
My thought processes always lean to non conformist itās my way of being creative in Architectural design hence some of my comments on this blog. However the subject of car ownership and its relationship with the urban environment is a complex one that needs more than a simple knee jerk reaction.
May 31, 2021
If you want people back on public transport then ditch the mask mandate. We all know masks don’t give protection. My local bus goes all round the houses to our nearest town 12 miles away, and takes an hour. I refuse to wear a mask an hour each way – particularly during warm weather.
May 31, 2021
No, masks don’t give 100% protection, but nothing does.
They are very effective however, and greatly reduce the chances of both transmission and infection.
You are confusing relatives and absolutes where the first is needed not the second. Propagandists intend you to make exactly that mistake.
The world eradicated smallpox, and with vaccines that are less effective than the covid19 ones, incidentally.
May 31, 2021
This is really just another attempt by the green establishment to make our lives less worthwhile. I’ve stopped believing they have any real interest in the planet, and are restricting us because they can and because they want to.
The mixed up, unscientific justifications they use for limiting our capacity to live our lives as we want to has spread from oil and plastics to anything that they can exert control over.
No doubt they’d prefer that we walked everywhere – just as our great-grandparents did – where it was not uncommon to have to walk 10 miles to work — Even if that happened they would still be looking at ways to reduce our use of energy.
Being mobile, and that generally means having a car, is more important than it has ever been, with greater needs. Central and local government need to stop penalising car drivers, and start to provision for them in a proper, logical planned manner, without using cars as a tax cash-cow.
May 31, 2021
The car will become a target for monitoring emotions, location, a marketing data source, driver identity, facial recognition with all vehicles becoming enmeshed into a web using V2X
Companies like Seeing Machines, SmartEye, Mobileye, Affective, Cipia are being propelled by EU legislation imposing camera based in-car driver monitoring (IR based eye tracking and facial recognition system and occupant monitoring of passenger numbers, identity and behaviour. All new cars will, from 2024, have such systems built into new cars
These systems also allow for an external entity to take control of the vehicle if it is deemed warranted. GM now has such systems installed
I have no doubt the State will be accessing such valuable information and private companies as they take advantage of electronic dashboards to pump adverts into the car you’re driving
There will be nowhere to hide from the moment you climb into you car to the moment you get out.
May 31, 2021
I know someone who has just bought a hybrid.
Whenever he goes out it delivers a critique of his driving.
It freaks him out!
As you say, so much scope for control.
May 31, 2021
Next they will be installing cameras in our bedrooms. They obviously think they need to check your gender and your thinking.
May 31, 2021
Who, yet again, are “they”?
May 31, 2021
Ownership and use of a car, as you say, is a most important aspect and symbol, of freedom. That is why the Green elite would like to kill its use for all except the richer members of society: themselves, but with very little idea of how they are going to provide equally convenient and economic means of transport for the less well off.
My son and his family took eight hours to travel 160 miles to Devon last Saturday; they knew that something like this would probably happen, but the alternative of using what public transport was available seemed even less palatable.
You have expressed the reality of the situation, but the Green approach to private transport is one of those things that has become the perceived norm, accepted on both sides of the House of Commons with noone challenging it. The Opposition is meant to be there for a reason, but it is failing to do its job, and the only potential solution lies on the Government side of the House, but clearly outside its ranks, so, rally the troops, Sir John!
May 31, 2021
We could buy five River Class Offshore Patrol Vessels or one National Flagship (not Royal Yacht ā thatās got too many imperial connotations) for Ā£200m
Hundred of illegal immigrants crossing the channel this past week ā I wonder which one our government will buy
Also the petrol engine car is king, its our freedom our independence our thrill
May 31, 2021
The dinghyists will keep coming until they realise that landing on the Kent coast means a flight from Manston the next day to their homeland.
P.S. I favour buying a new royal yacht.
May 31, 2021
I fear you’re correct, I too support additional Royal Navy vessels but not a National Flagship for our elite
May 31, 2021
or dropped by parachute over Normandy?
May 31, 2021
Flights to Afghanistan, Eritrea, etc. aren’t that easily arranged from Blighty, I think that you will find.
May 31, 2021
You want a new Royal yacht – well go pay for it yourself – don’t include me
May 31, 2021
Where I live in South West Cornwall, we have two buses a day at the bottom of the lane, the last one being at 3.00p.m. It takes two hours by train just to get to the Cornish border and nearly 6 to get to London because there is no express service, the train stopping every 10 minutes at every station in Cornwall. Try telling us we donāt need a car. Of course services could be improved but as the south west is blue all over, we can be taken for granted and ignored. Boris is only interested in investing in red wall areas.
May 31, 2021
The motor car is a victim of its own success. It has gone from being an unreliable luxury to one that is all too affordable and long lasting. This has meant that there is a very wide choice of cars, manufacturers and means of purchase available, all at reasonable costs to the consumer. This in turn has lead to more cars on the roads for more people with some families with more cars than one or two. Two of my neighbours have more than three vehicles and the average for my road seems to be between 1.5 – 2.0 vehicles, of all types, per household.
As someone without a car but looking to make a purchase once I am able to see the car as a necessary means to do the things other forms of transport cannot reasonably do. For example: I recently made an online purchase which could not be delivered, it was Click-and-Collect only. I had to make three separate bus journeys to get too and from the store. In a car I could have been there in 15-20 minutes there and back.
Obviously I am not against the car and believe strongly in freedom of choice and travel but, given the above, I am not too sure whether or not ALL these cars and their respective journeys are quite necessary. As our kind host alludes to, large towns and cities that have good transport links and services, the average traveller rarely needs to use their own car for basic journeys as there are good alternatives.
If I were to live outside a large town or city I would most certainly need a car even for the most basic of journeys. It is a difficult one to balance but we are reaching quite a saturation point on our roads and people need to think about the need rather than just the convenience of the car.
May 31, 2021
People rely on cars for their way of life, and have done ever since they realised that they were more convenient, safer and cheaper than public transport. They are not going to change their habits of a lifetime unless they are given much better reasons to do so.
May 31, 2021
I agree wholeheartedly with this article, apart from the “voter backlash”. I would like to know who voted to impede traffic, and how we can vote against it now. All main parties do the same things. They are ALL continuing with their war on the motorist, but I don’t know any adult who actually agrees with it.
You in national government really need to get a grip on the local authorities and roads agencies to stop this nonsense and put it into reverse. I think this will require replacement of a lot of senior management with people who are interested in getting Britain moving again.
May 31, 2021
O/T, sorry for that, but it might be of interest to some readers here.
We are āgivenā the possibility to opt-out of our various medical-related data being used by/sold to third parties.
Going to http://medconfidential.org/how-to-opt-out/
– One has to print and fill the Type1 form and bring/send it to oneās surgery before 23 June 2021. This will cover the use of GP data.
– For non-GP data (i.e., hospital and clinic treatments) that could be used/sold for purposes other than direct care, one has to get to NHSDigital online and find the National Data Opt-Out process from the above website.
Oneās postcode, date of birth, and NHS number are required in the process to opt-out of these two potentially wide-ranging data gathering operations, for not too well defined purposes.
May 31, 2021
Thanks Hefner. I was reading about this last night. The links are useful.
May 31, 2021
Many of the traffic calming measures in urban areas are at the request of local residents. A lot of the housing stock was built before cars become popular.
High Street shopping is in decline due to a big rise in on line shopping. LAs are seeking solutions to regeneration in these areas. I favour demolishing the old shopping centres and moving retail into one area then building apartments with green space. Iām a supporter of more apartments and green space within former big shopping centres.
The knock on effect is less out of town cars coming to shop
May 31, 2021
Not ‘In praise of the car’ but ‘In praise of the petrol engine car’
May 31, 2021
Itās worth remembering that almost 20% of the population (about ten million of us) live in rural areas where there is almost no public transport. A car is essential; for me the nearest supermarket is 7 miles.
Almost all car regulations seem to be done from the point of view of city or town dwellers and ignore us country dwellers. Iāve no problems with parkānāride schemes but they donāt seem to be all that popular.
May 31, 2021
OT. How might the Government replace the income from the loss of fuel duty?
As a Pensioner on a modest fixed income, I’m not likely to be able to replace my car anytime soon but there may be some second hand EVs on the market by the time I have saved enough. Public transport, while useful for occasional journeys to London and other cities, will never be a permanent substitute for the freedom and flexibility of our car.
May 31, 2021
N o t A
Beware when thinking of purchasing a second hand electric vehicle, as the range will be lower than when new due to loss of battery efficiency, and charging degradation.
Replacement with new batteries will be somewhere around the Ā£10,000 mark, so the used second hand market will need to factor in this phenomenon.
Who would want to purchase a Ā£7,000 -Ā£10,000 car that may need another Ā£10,000 spent on it in a few years time.
I see most vehicle manufactures not guaranteeing batteries for any longer than 5 years, the longest I have seen from one manufacturer only is 10 years.
May 31, 2021
I agree with your post but was reluctant to put a figure on it. The reality is, I do not want to change my vehicle at all. Perhaps by the time the Government fixes it so that I can’ refuel my car, I will have fallen off my perch.
May 31, 2021
*can’t*
May 31, 2021
modest fixed pension? Andy thinks you are the nouvelle riche.
May 31, 2021
One of these days he will have to make do like me.
Old Guys Rule!
May 31, 2021
The development I’m dreading is the flying car. Many drivers are incompetent enough in two dimensions. The vast majority of us are safe from other people’s car accidents in our own homes, but this won’t be the case when a flying car crashes through your bedroom ceiling. Also a wonderful opportunity for morons to drop stuff on people relaxing in their own back gardens.
May 31, 2021
Flying is a totally different world from that in which motorists operate. The air like the sea, if not more so is a very professioal space. With the sea you only get qualified if you want to. With the air their is no option. Rest assured your bedroom ceiling and back garden are off limits. Motorists can qualify one day and jump in a Ferrari the next, totally out of the question in aviation. Relax in the sun with your G&T knowing a passing pigeon is more likely to harm you than an aircraft.
May 31, 2021
I was never able to get a supermarket delivery when I wanted it all through the pandemic. I was actually glad as I found my 2 trips a week to the shops kept me sane. It was almost exciting to be out with a valid reason. Deliveries are ok but there are times when you want to be able to choose your own purchases.
O/T I see BT are going to make calls etc cheaper if you are on Universal Credit. Funny, I don’t remember being asked if I wanted to subsidise someone else’s phone bill. Time to change provider I think.
May 31, 2021
Does anybody trust a picker to choose fruit, veg or meat? And the once per week shop usually had several items with only a day or two sell by date left. So hand it back and you don’t have what you needed.
May 31, 2021
Possible topic for another day?
With the evictions ban ending, presumably thousands will be thrown out – will they get similar treatment to the hundreds arriving at Dover? – free everything – for nothing?
May 31, 2021
Oh look, admittedly completely off the topic:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/hard-to-know-if-boris-johnson-or-theresa-may-is-more-to-blame-for-irish-sea-border-3255906
“Hard to know if Boris Johnson or Theresa May is more to blame for Irish Sea border”
The text is more or less as sent:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/05/30/what-i-learn-from-contributors-here/#comment-1232440
May 31, 2021
Why should anyone be to blame for the border sea border or land border – a border with the EU has to be somewhere. It is just a consequence of the Brexit debacle that was not thought through properly – and it’s not the EU’s fault they negotiated in good faith with the best of the UK ‘s side – great negotiators all like DD i the early days’ they all agreed including Lord Frost and signed it off the whole thing passed both Houses – and now some flat earthers want to change it – some creationists – only six months after it was signed – this WA an International treaty – fat chance – you guys are for the birds
June 1, 2021
We know where the real border with the EU is, it’s the same international border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic which has been there for a century. We also know that while that is where the customs border should still be it would not be necessary for customs checks to be conducted at the actual border and most of the terribly difficult problems around that are inventions which Theresa May should have knocked on the head but chose to accept as real. And when some Irish politician later came out with the nonsense that customs checks anywhere on the island of Ireland would amount to a “hard border” that was something that Boris Johnson should have knocked on the head but he chose not to do so.
June 2, 2021
+1
May 31, 2021
How pleasant to encounter someone with common sense as well as intelligence. Thank you for your wise comments grounded in fact Mr Redwood
May 31, 2021
Fish that was landed or food that was grown in Britain, delivered by over night trains to city centres and then distributed by early morning tradesman was erased by the globalist agenda using their ownership and control of large supermarket chains.
The sound of the early morning empty milk bottles being collected and full ones placed on every homes doorstep, carried out by hard working men driving a battery powered milk floats, ably assisted by a youth who helped for a small wage before going to school, suddenly almost over night it changed, caused by the large supermarkets chains selling milk cheaper in PLASTIC containers.
The local greengrocer where one could walk to buy our daily needs also disappeared, forced out of business by the large supermarkets who sell most of our daily needs in, of course you guessed it, PLASTIC containers, oh to eased their self from the PLASTIC environmental disaster that they are causing the put a price on every plastic bag the customer uses.
One of the Governments policies now in collusion with big business is to build crammed together houses on wherever there is a green field, most of these new builds are in rural village areas where they do not have employment or have local grocery shops for the incoming families, which means the family members have to commute, so the transportation environmental problem continues.
After WW2 the motor car was seen as the answer for the future prosperity of the countries and employment for their peoples, the governments of the day encouraged the masses to use it, they build motorways, cut back rail lines, build new cities outside of the main cities, encourage people to buy homes within commuting distance of their employment, encouraged people to use Diesel fuel, encourage people to drive to the new commercial shopping estates which is stocked by the globalised food distribution network, causing traditional high streets to full into a dilapidated state that most are now in. Their next ecological disaster is the use of battery powered motor transport.
What is the common denominator of all of our recent past and the ecological disaster we now find ourselves in, yes of course short sighted government control and planning.
Common sense is now needed and a standard of trying to please the customer (that’s the British peoples) and not carrying out policies that would best suit the big business suppliers, be it transport, housing, employment or food, it might also help to put that chirpiness back into the British caricature, that has been bashed out by WOKE policies.
Look at our history to see how the previous generations evolved goods supply worked and integrate their methods into our systems, keeping in mind that the societies have been set up in the past by previous governments. This and future governments are to be considerate with the public when they are changing peoples lifestyle that they have previously manipulated.
June 1, 2021
Unless we can mine all the rare earth materials, make the batteries, recycle them, recycle the petrol and diesel vehicles, have competing designs and factories ALL in England because we might be alone out of the UK in a few years, design and update the software for hands free journeys, make all this economic, find jobs for the people made redundant as a by-product of this sunny uplands thinking ….the future will be DYSTOPIA.
May 31, 2021
My LA has an obsession with cycle and bus lanes despite many roads having parked cars on either side and even in the middle. The cyclists regard themselves as kings of the road, riding through red traffic lights, riding on pavements, riding at night without lights and wearing dark clothing. The useless Tory Police Commissioner is not taking the slightest interest, presumably because the LA does not see there to be a problem. There is a problem, however, which is that cyclists are needlessly putting themselves and pedestrians at risk of serious injury and death by their reckless behaviour and failure to protect themselves. The use of our roads by cyclists for free, of any age, without insurance, without examination and without the requirement to wear a crash helmet and high viz jacket or deploy effective lights needs to end.
I would also draw JR’s attention to the fact that our LA is giving planning permission for flat development with restrictions on the ratio of car parking to flats and further requirements for the provision of cycle storage. Should not the matter off road storage be a judgement for the developer? This is causing unnecessary hardship for people who would like to own a car and creates further pressure on roadside parking.
May 31, 2021
Indeed, many cyclists I see are aggressive then consider themselves blameless when they have an accident such as overtaking an obviously left-turning truck on the inside.
May 31, 2021
Another topic. ( likely to make Martin and Andy apoplectic?)
The UK economy’s recovery from the pandemic is set to be stronger than previously thought, a leading international agency has suggested. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says the UK is likely to grow 7.2% in 2021, up from its March projection of 5.1%.
The OECD raised its forecast for global growth to 5.8%, compared with the 4.2% it predicted in December. However, it warned that growth would not be shared evenly.
The UK’s growth is set to be the fastest among the large rich countries, the OECD says.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak attributed the strength of the forecast to the success of the UK’s vaccine rollout and the government’s Plan for Jobs. However, he cautioned that with debt at nearly 100% of GDP, there was a need to “ensure public finances remain on a sure footing”.
May 31, 2021
+1
May 31, 2021
I saw that report too. The OECD also said the UKās long term economic āscarringā is likely to be worse than any other G7 country. Though it added this is more a result of Brexit than the pandemic. Glad you enjoyed the report which confirms your Brexit is immensely harmful.
June 1, 2021
I will watch out for that “scarring” Andy.
Better than your false predictions for a huge recession.
One of many Project Fear predictions of yours that have totally failed to happen.
May 31, 2021
‘strength of the forecast to the success of the UKās vaccine rollout and the governmentās Plan for Jobs’. Bullshit
Thank the private sector for keeping this nation afloat. Politicians in government merely feed off the wealth created by business and then demand praise for spending someone else’s money
I am tired of bullshitting politicians, their lies, their evilness
May 31, 2021
So government wants to limit car ownership but is only too ready to tax us on car purchase, fuel duty, tolls, road tax and anything else they might dream up. For many of us public transport is not always available, often expensive and inconvenient unless going into the city.
Yet another attempt to restrict our freedom.
May 31, 2021
Whisper it quietly – the era of mass ownership of cars is slowly coming to an end. What, you cry? Yup. The era of mass car ownership is ending and we can already see what will replace it.
The trouble with a car is that it spends most of its time parked. Our once pleasant towns are now packed full of machines which are stood idle most of the time. YOUR car spends most of its time going nowhere, slowly depreciating.
Look at old pictures of our towns. Even as recently as the 70s youād see just a few parked cars. Now our streets are rammed full of them. I used to play cricket and tennis in the road with my friends on the street we lived on. Now that same street is crammed full of parked cars on both sides.
We can already see what comes next – and it is a better solution. Already in cities like London you can order an Uber and it will usually be with you in 5 minutes. Companies like Tesla already make electric cars which can drive themselves. The tech giants and motor manufacturers are linking the two – and, before long, whenever you are youāll be able to order a self driving car whenever you need one. Itāll be with you in minutes.
You wonāt have this huge deprecating blob sat outside your home. You wonāt have to worry about parking it at your destination. Youāll get out and the car will go off on its merry way. Shared journeys will be available at a discount and cameras will monitor safety. Dirty cars will quickly be removed from service.
The car can take your kids to school. There will be no need for buses. Grandpa – with the bad eyes – can go to the supermarket anyway. The car will drive him.
And, for the naysayers, this technology already largely exists. What is missing is the political will. How much better would our world be with far fewer cars?
May 31, 2021
again you live in a time warp. Football and tennis in the street was possible up to the sixties – then it all changed.
Even I had a car in the low sixties at 17 – mass affordable cars had arrived, and old bangers got sold to ‘us kids’.
In the early seventies we had bought a starter home, like other youngsters climbing the ladder – the street was a parking nightmare, but the sensible builder had planned for garages in a block – so when mates were known to be coming we would park it in the garage.
I imagine you lived in the back of beyond.
May 31, 2021
And just like public transport is today your brave new world will be fine for Londoners and in some other big cities but for the millions who live in the rural countryside the service will be poor at best, intermittent, expensive and there will be areas of no service at all.
June 1, 2021
Andy : āWe can already see what comes next ā and it is a better solution. Already in cities like London you can order an Uber and it will usually be with you in 5 minutes. Companies like Tesla already make electric cars which can drive themselves. The tech giants and motor manufacturers are linking the two ā and, before long, whenever you are youāll be able to order a self driving car whenever you need one. Itāll be with you in minutes.ā
Whilst I agree that technology will produce self-drive vehicles this will not lead to shared vehicle use for hygiene reasons, particularly during a pandemic. Who wants to get into a vehicle with a bad smell?
The advantage of self-drive is that it will be possible to send the vehicle away to park (even back at home if you have just used it to take you to the local train station or superstore for instance) and then to come and collect you when you wish to return home.
In fact I can see small personal vehicles increasing in use as a result of self-drive technology as it will make many journeys easier, quicker, more flexible and far more comfortable (no need to lug bags or suitcases for instance) than mass transport systems for anything other than possibly journeys into the centres of large towns.
May 31, 2021
Cars can be used during a pandemic whilst mass transit systems cannot.
And we can be sure that CV19 will not be the last virus to emanate from China.
This is another reason why HS2 should be scrapped in addition to being uneconomic and bad for the environment.
June 1, 2021
Like the Netherlands motorways, make the lorries use inside lane only during peak times, to keep the traffic flowing.
Like France, install more undertaking lanes, well signposted in advance on single lane roads, to reduce risk of accidents by fed-up drivers trying to get past slower moving vehicles.
Seek out and adopt best practice … no need to reinvent the wheel š
June 1, 2021
Big business manipulation of our daily lives:
Fish that was landed or food that was grown in Britain, delivered by over night trains to city centres and then distributed by early morning tradesman was erased by the globalist agenda using their ownership and control of large supermarket chains.
The sound of the early morning empty milk bottles being collected and full ones placed on every homes doorstep, carried out by hard working men driving a battery powered milk float, ably assisted by a youth who helped for a small wage before going to school, suddenly almost over night it changed, caused by the large supermarkets chains selling milk cheaper in PLASTIC containers.
The local greengrocer where one could walk to buy our daily needs also disappeared, forced out of business by the large supermarkets who sell most of our daily needs in, of course you guessed it, PLASTIC containers, oh to eased theirself from the PLASTIC environmental disaster that they are causing the put a price on every plastic bag that the customer uses.
One of the Governments policies now in collusion with big business is to build crammed together houses on wherever there is a green field, most of these new builds are in rural village areas where they do not have employment or have local grocery shops for the incoming families, which means the family members have to commute, so the transportation environmental problem continues.
After WW2 the motor car was seen as the answer for the future prosperity of the countries and employment for their peoples, the governments of the day encouraged the masses to use it, they build motorways, cut back rail lines, build new cities outside of the main cities, encourage people to buy homes that they had to commute a distance to their employment, they encouraged people to use Diesel fuel, encourage people to drive to the new commercial shopping estates which is stocked by the globalised goods and food distribution network, causing traditional high streets to full into a dilapidated state that most are now in. The next ecological disaster is the use of battery powered transport.
What is the common denominator of all of our recent past and the ecological disaster we now find ourselves in, yes of course big business and government ministers using their position to assist big business in the country’s control and planning.
Common sense is now needed and a standard of trying to please the customer (that’s the British peoples) and not carrying out policies that would best suit the big business, be it transport, housing, employment or food, it might also help to put that chirpiness back into the British peoples that has been bashed out by WOKE policies.
June 2, 2021
I agree. And I have grave concerns regarding the direction of travel of the Conservative party on these matters, for all the wrong reasons (climate change etc). I would welcome government sponsorship of some body designed to “get at the truth” on climate science rather than have to take a position on the conflicting claims of various groups pof scientists and the effective censorship of anti-climate change scientists’ views in the media.
It’s getting to the point where the greatest danger to the Conservative party comes not from the left, but from its right flank. New parties, maybe – but they are only there to exert pressure for policy change, they don’t expect to be in government, but if the Labour Party were to take a position of trying to allow workers to keep more of their money (rather than their historical position of trying to increase their pay but tax them even more)… and if they were to abolish things like IR35 (thereby winning over most of the small businesses and the gig economy)… along with a pro-Brexit leader dedicated to running the country’s finances properly… they could actually outflank the Conservatives on their own territory without betraying their principles. After all, they’d be satnding up for workers, only in a more modern way (acknowledging that “poor” is only a relative term in modern UK society).
Immigration policy would still be a big problem for them, but not insurmountable.
June 4, 2021
This piece is essentially the failed thinking behind every UK town from about 1950 through to the mid 90s, though some locations are still stuck in that way of thinking. Look what a total dump it turned most places into: a sea of car parks, bypasses, concrete flyovers, noise and pollution, making the actual thing they’re trying to get to less attractive.
The number of vehicles on the roads has doubled in 20 years. Because driving is heavily subsidised then more people do it. Meanwhile subsidies for the alternatives have been cut. Town planning has been based on the assumption that everyone will drive. The result is the congestion we now see and the roads hostile to any alternatives.
The worst thing is that people think they have been given freedom whilst they’ve been robbed of their quality of life.