The Car Free Cities Network conspiracy
Discussion
I was quite intrigued by a previous post which mentioned the so-called Copenhagen Declaration, so I did some digging. The Copenhagen Declaration appears to be a policy that has been agreed by ACCESS, formerly the Car Free Cities Network, a pan EU organisation dedicated to implementing, amongst other things, "environmentally friendly and socially oriented mobility" (how nice) and "reducing dependence upon environmentally-damaging motorised transport" (oh really?). The Declaration concludes by saying that "all decision-makers at the local, regional, national and European levels are urged to play their part in changing our culture of mobility!" Hmmm.
In its "information pack", ACCESS discusses the encouragement of "more rational use of the private car and promoting more sustainable modes of transport." Methods to achieve this include "exploring ways in which use of the private car might be discouraged such as access control, pricing policies." Aha.
Now for the conspiracy bit. UK membership of ACCESS includes Lancashire County Council, Nottingham City Council, the City of Edinburgh, several London boroughs and the City of London. Lancashire has arguably one of the most venemous speed enforcement campaigns in the whole of the UK. Nottingham plays host to the SPECS/SVDD experiment. The City of Edinburgh looks like it could introduce traffic calming on all non-major routes and congestion charging. London - what can I say?
Coincidence? Well maybe, but I don't think you would necessarily be certified as ultra-paranoid if you thought for one moment that there could be a connection.
BTW don't forget - 22nd September! It's European Car Free day! Let's not spoil it for them, eh?
In its "information pack", ACCESS discusses the encouragement of "more rational use of the private car and promoting more sustainable modes of transport." Methods to achieve this include "exploring ways in which use of the private car might be discouraged such as access control, pricing policies." Aha.
Now for the conspiracy bit. UK membership of ACCESS includes Lancashire County Council, Nottingham City Council, the City of Edinburgh, several London boroughs and the City of London. Lancashire has arguably one of the most venemous speed enforcement campaigns in the whole of the UK. Nottingham plays host to the SPECS/SVDD experiment. The City of Edinburgh looks like it could introduce traffic calming on all non-major routes and congestion charging. London - what can I say?
Coincidence? Well maybe, but I don't think you would necessarily be certified as ultra-paranoid if you thought for one moment that there could be a connection.
BTW don't forget - 22nd September! It's European Car Free day! Let's not spoil it for them, eh?
Economy will sort this one out for them.
What I mean is that cities that are car free and car unfriendly will suffer compared to those that welcome the car.
An example: I live in just outside Glasgow and while Glasgow isn't car unfriendly per say it has recently started to charge people for parking on Sunday. Something that never used to happen.
Now just outside Glasgow is a HUGE retail centre called Brayhead which of course has free parking. Tis quite amusing as Brayhead is just outside the Glasgow council tax rates area so doesn't pay Glasgow Shitty Council any tax despite nicking plenty of their trade.
So if other cities start to ban/charge cars without MASSIVELY improving public transport then they could become unstuck pretty quickly
Andy
What I mean is that cities that are car free and car unfriendly will suffer compared to those that welcome the car.
An example: I live in just outside Glasgow and while Glasgow isn't car unfriendly per say it has recently started to charge people for parking on Sunday. Something that never used to happen.
Now just outside Glasgow is a HUGE retail centre called Brayhead which of course has free parking. Tis quite amusing as Brayhead is just outside the Glasgow council tax rates area so doesn't pay Glasgow Shitty Council any tax despite nicking plenty of their trade.
So if other cities start to ban/charge cars without MASSIVELY improving public transport then they could become unstuck pretty quickly
Andy
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