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news
Big Ben © Simon MacMichael“Crackpot conspiracy theory” led to government slashing active travel funding
A “crackpot conspiracy theory” that misrepresents the urban planning concept of the 15-minute city led to the government slashing funding for active travel and pledge to review measures aimed at curbing the use of private motor vehicles, it has emerged.
The Guardian’s Peter Walker reports that documents obtained by the Transport Action Network (TAN), which has brought a legal challenge to the swingeing cuts imposed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt last year, reveal that conspiracy theories were partly responsible for the change in tack by the government.
The news that government transport policy – and in particular, that surrounding motoring and active travel – is now apparently being shaped by outlandish claims that have no grounding in reality drew plenty of comment on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, this morning, including from the broadcaster James O’Brien and London’s walking and cycling commissioner, Will Norman.
> Boris Johnson reveals how he will bring in “new golden age for cycling”
In May 2020, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson heralded a “new golden age for cycling” to be funded by the £2 billion over five years that then Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, had announced for active travel three months previously.
But last March, with Sunak now installed as Prime Minister at No. 10 Downing Street, Hunt slashed that promised spend by two thirds, with active travel funding in England outside London currently standing at £1 per person per year, compared to £38 in Scotland and £22 in Wales.
> “A backward move” – Government slashes active travel budget for England
Subsequently, in September Sunak unveiled his ‘plan for drivers’, pledging to review low-traffic neighbourhoods and the rollout of 20mph speed limits, among other things.
Papers obtained by TAN as part of its legal challenge, for which it has crowdfunded nearly £40,000, show that opposition to measures aimed at reducing car use and promoting active travel lay behind the government’s decision, with Transport Secretary Mark Harper telling a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference in September that the concept of the 15-minute city meant that “local councils can decide how often you go to the shops” – something that has no basis in fact.
However, the documents seen by TAN show that such thoughts have been influential in shaping the direction of transport policy at Westminster.
> Tory MP attacks 15-minute city concept with known conspiracy theory
Chris Todd, director of TAN, told the Guardian: “These shocking revelations show Rishi Sunak was more concerned with crazy conspiracy theories than helping people travel safely and cheaply.
“It’s absurd for ministers to be swept away by hysteria about 15-minute cities, at the same time that other government departments were defending them.”
Responding this morning to the document’s revelations, London’s walking and cycling commissioner Will Norman wrote: “National policy should not be set by listening to crack-pot conspiracy theories instead of actual evidence.
“Data repeatedly shows well-planned LTNs work and 20mph saves lives. DFT dropping active travel ‘quietly’ with no public announcements is wrong.”
“Even when remarking on air that it seemed the government was tailoring policy for the maddest people on Facebook, I held out hope they weren’t,” added LBC’s James O’Brien.
> Why is the 15-minute city attracting so many conspiracy theories?
Devised by Sorbonne academic Carlos Moreno, the 15-minute city concept puts forward the idea that all essential services – schools, shops, medical facilities and the like – be no more than a 15-minute walk from where people live.
Conspiracy theorists – many of whom are also opposed to vaccinations against COVID-19, or measures aimed at reducing the impact of climate change – have inaccurately portrayed it as meaning that ordinary people will not be able to travel more than 15 minutes from their homes, with governments, claimed to be backed by some global elite, imposing restrictions on where they can go.
The concept hit the headlines in the UK last year when Oxford outlined plans to restrict vehicle movements through the city centre, dividing the city into different zones.
Aimed at restricting the use of private motor vehicles and getting more people walking, cycling and using public transport, the proposals were seized upon by conspiracy theorists who erroneously claimed that the plans would result in people being corralled within the area where they reside, and not allowed to travel elsewhere in the city.
Coincidentally, anyone in Oxford who remains confused about what a 15-minute city is and isn’t can find out all about the concept at the end of February at a public lecture at the University of Oxford from the man who invented the concept, Carlos Moreno.
Big news and very relevant today: Carlos Moreno is giving a public lecture in Oxford about what 15 min cities actually mean and why it might be quite nice for local residents to have shops nearby to them. https://t.co/ovGZhwCCgs
— Cllr Emily Kerr 💚 (@EmilyKerr36) January 10, 2024
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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how to make a non-announcement of government policy:
We will stop the roll out of 5G masts where it is proven that [insert conspiracy ideas around 5G / mast infra] will arise
We will stop traffic control measures that no-one wants
we will stop migrants coming over here and taking all our jobs
It's perfect isn't it, tell your idiot gammons something that doesn't exist won't exist (because you're taking rigorous action against it) and presto! they're happy, and you don't have to do anything.
Talking of being old and shit, I presume this conspiracy nonsense had some sort of existence pre-internet, but there wasn't social media in which to express it, so unless you heard/ overheard it in the pub, you wouldn't know about it? Or are we sliding back towards witches, witchcraft and the Witchfinder General?
I always thought that was a major part of politics anywhere - if not quite the whole thing?
"Conservative Party sacrifices the environment to save money and pull in votes from motorists."
Is this a news story?
sadly they are not alone in rolling out the red carpet for drivers, I would say red tarmac, but that sounds a bit too much like a cycle path.
Presumably it's only a matter of time for government policy to switch off all the mobile masts starting with 5g - at least the online hate and abuse creators will be less active as a result.
I happened to listen to 30 minutes of Nick Ferrari on LBC yesterday morning. Apparently London is supposed to have the slowest car traffic (over a six mile distance) in the world. The figure is obviously disputed but none the less London is slow. A transport consultant came on and spoke about the huge number of vans delivering personal goods for on line retailers and the 100, 000 plus Ubers circling inner London plus the millions of extra cars making short journeys on London's roads. But what did Ferrari and his callers focus on? Cycle lanes and Ulez. It's all because of cycle lanes that there is congestion in London.
Well the fact that London has the slowest motor traffic proves that traffic is the lifeblood of the city. This is because London is of course the worst, most economically weak city in the world...
Therefore though active travel is a "nice to have" right now the only thing to do is remove cycle lanes, narrow footways and build more roads. Because due to (insert Brexit / cost of living crisis / there's a war on / party in power for over a decade is desperate to look fiscally in control before election) we can't afford not to.
Was that right?
Alternatively - if it shows anything useful - perhaps it's the importance of a reliable and extensive public transport system. And that even in a massive sprawling megalopolis like London there is demand for active travel provision.
The report on London having the slowest traffic of any city in the world is garbage. Anyone who has ever been to the likes of Lagos, Istanbul, Delhi, Beijing, Bangkok, Mexico City (and I've been to all of those) or any of the cities that regularly feature in the top 10 worst cities for traffic congestion will know that. The only city in a Western Developed nation to feature regularly in the Top 10 is Los Angeles. London doesn't even make the top 20 worst.
Crackpot pretty much sums up the government's modus operandi since 2016. They've been stuck in a cycle in which they're constantly attempting to distract from their previous failure with a new policy that is so ill-conceived that it is bound to fail itself. So it is no surprise that they're now plumbing the depths of social media to get ideas from whack jobs and certified morons, which is leading to them reneging on the few halfway decent pledges they've made.
Great to see TAN using the donations so wisely, but like so many things today, how does one tell the crackpots from our glorious leaders? I suspect most of the crackpots are considerably more competent than most people in the government, and certainly more so than my MP, Mark Harper himself.
Village post office gone? Corner shop closed down? Police station shut? Nearest hardware store now on an out-of-town retail park? Limited bus services these days?
This is the 1-hour city plan, a devious scheme by the motoring lobby to ensure no services are available within a 1-hour walk of your home.
And that's actually no conspiracy but true.
As ever they're actually projecting on others what they are themselves guilty of.
Does anyone remember how to reset this timeline back to something a bit more normal?
You mean go back to Square One?
Well, according to that "nice" Mr Sunak, all we have to do is vote for Mr Starmer at the forthcoming GE....although I have my concerns that my nose will hurt for a long time if I do so.
Have you tried turning it off and back on again?
I can't reach the power button
It's a short drive away in an out of town retail park (damned motoring lobby and their one hour cities)
I think you need Red Matter and a giant Romulan mining ship…
(Otherwise, keep an eye out for a blue police box).
Now where did I leave my magical golden acorn?
I saw a Delorean just before christmas, it always makes me wonder when they've come from!
AHA! Got you! An apologist for the "great reset"!
You'll be saying I can get to my remote working job on time without a car next!
For the older folks who are easily led by propaganda there are a couple of definitions which you can use to help them understand what these terms mean:
15 minute city = Where you grew up.
You remember being able to walk to the corner shop and walk to school and walk to the bank etc when you were young before everything moved to out of town shopping centres you had to drive to and the world started feeling isolated and hostile? That's what people are trying to bring back.
Low Traffic Neighbourhood = Cul De Sac.
A road that only is used to access the houses on it. The only cars there being ones belonging to residents or their visitors. Kids playing in the street, quiet, low road noise. i.e. a good place to live as a child, an adult or an elderly person.
Yep, remember it well.
Walking to and from school was great, even though it well over 2 miles each way, as I could practice my chat up lines on Lesley... not that it got me anywhere.
I remember the first time someone was driven to school: this would have been 1980. They had the micky taken out of them for days afterwards. Nowadays, they may be the ones outside school picking up their grandchildren: the shame of it all.
Progress? I don't think so.
I live opporsite a primary school in a small rural town. Despite most of the children at the school living within a mile and half radius over the past 20 years the number of cars doing the school run have grown and grown and grown. At pick up time some parents arrive up to 20 minutes early, one parent arrives in a silver Vauxhall 45 minutes early every day. The only time my parents ever came to collect me from primary school I remember that they were late so I walked home. Worse still one of my near neighbours drives the half-mile to the station but then parks 300 yards away 'cos he doesn't want to pay for the station car park all before spending his time on the train moaning about i) the cost of motoring, ii) the war on motorists or iii) being over weight! Earlier in the week he only just made it to the station on time because he was deicing his car. Everytime I tell him that I walk to the Station he looks at me as if I'm bonkers. Truly we live a strange world.
Of course it has, because they can't allow their kids to walk/cycle to school because of all the cars.
No, wait a minute............
So do I, it started in kindergarten, from age 4 onwards, must have been about 600m and we went there alone. Primary school 2 1/2km, summers by bike, winter on foot, my parents didn't even have a car then (early 80s). Secondary school 5-6 km, by bike most of the year, in winter by bus.
And I've always continued like that, I cannot comprehend how someone who has grown up like that, and anyone of 40+ today has, can grow the kind of car brain that everyone now seems to have....
I just checked on google maps and it was less than 1km to school, less than 1km to a few shops and less than 1.2 km to another set.
Not many of the shops left but pleased to note the newsagent where I did a paperound from is still there and with the same name !
Oi, less of the 'older folk who are easily led by proganda'. I'm an 'older folk' and I think these conpiracies are completely bonkers (as do most of my older folk friends). Facebook is mostly full of millenials spouting this type of nonsense, the Karens and builders who've probably been vaping something dodgy.
Its not "older folks, who we all know are easily led by propaganda" its "people who are easily led by propaganda and are old enough to remember towns and cities which had not been destroyed by car culture"
I grew up in suburban USA, designed around driving, but still within a 30 minute walk or 10 minute bike ride each way I could get to my school (through about age 13), a convenience store to buy sweets, several restaurants, banks, a grocery store, and the YMCA. I biked to all of those things until I got my driver's licen[c|s]e at 16, after which I drove nearly everywhere.