Forum topic: Road Wars: Neighbourhood Traffic Chaos

BBC Panorama yesterday (17 April) was “Road Wars: Neighbourhood Traffic Chaos” , now available on the i-Player. An interesting watch albeit one that will bring little new to this area, but it did try to present a balance of issues, so worthy of all giving it 30 minutes as there is inevitably “another side”.

Two broadscale aspects did jump out at me: firstly the really large number of England’s, government funded, LTN’s, with another big wave due, as well as the three devolved nations apparently due to follow suit; and secondly, of real concern, was the linking of LTN’s with the 15 minute city and a belief this was a step towards a Hunger Games type scenario where we would be trapped in a small area of our respective city, or only allowed out for a short period, by an increasingly controlling government.

If I was spotting a potential candidate for a hostile state making social media mischief I would be alighting here. The curtailing of freedom articulated by some at the end was in reality protesting a restriction on being able to drive wherever you want, something entirely different.

“15-minute cities” aren’t even LTN’s, just an idea that most stuff you interact with should be close enough to get to relatively quickly and easily. A bit like living and working and shopping and … in PG. Argue freedom in the spirit of seeking an equivalent in England to Scotland’s right to roam so that we have freedom of access beyond a tiny minority (8%) of England’s protected privately owned land and estates and I might have listened.