And here’s the rub: ultimately, the opponents are right. This is an attempt to make life more difficult for motorists, in order to improve the situation for people not travelling in large metal boxes. That does and should involve a raft of measures. Parking spaces need to be removed, access to town centres limited to deliveries, congestion charges imposed. This will give rise to noisy opposition, such as the fanatics in London
who broke cameras monitoring compliance with the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez).
We need politicians to explain – and to keep explaining – why the unrestricted use of cars in urban centres is damaging to the local economy as well as to the environment, to people’s health and to the overall feel of a place. It’s no good dodging the fact that the policies that prevailed until the late 1960s, and which still seem to be favoured by backward-looking opponents, were a mistake.
