Garden cities were built to avoid urban poverty
COULD I endorse the comments in Lucy Lynch’s article about Crest Nicholson, the developer of Westwood Heath site (Aug 2).
I have met with them a number of times and I genuinely respect their approach to housing. For me, they are a high quality developer.
What a shame, however, they are planning to build 425 houses on the most attractive green space in Burton Green and what a tragedy they are building them for Coventry on the strength of nonsense population projections. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if instead they built 425 social houses on brown field sites in Coventry for those desperate to live in their own house rather than live in high rent properties.
Now that would really be a tribute to Ebenezer Howard. His garden cities were built, amongst other things, to avoid urban poverty, overcrowding, carbon gases, lack of interaction with nature and low wages. That perhaps sums up the experiences of many of the less fortunate in our society today.
I don’t think he was driven by the need to build executive houses for the better off and take note, Crest Nicholson, he consorted with free thinkers, anarchists and socialists. A Taylor Kenilworth
Are battery power cars really greener?
I AGREE that that our busy roads and cities have become smelly and unhealthy places due to the massive increase in the use of petrol and diesel vehicles. This is especially noticeable when we return to ‘civilisation’ after holidays in some of the remoter parts of the UK.
However if we look at the current battery-powered alternative this is not practical or green.
Lithium, a major component of modern batteries, is dug out of vast holes on other continents using giant diesel-powered machinery. This is processed using energy and then carried by ocean-going ships, one of the biggest polluters on the planet, to the site where the batteries are manufactured, using more energy.
The electronic wizardry required to utilize the energy from the battery to power a vehicle requires a multitude of precious minerals which again are extracted from the earth, processed, and carried vast distances across the globe. More pollution and a lot of vast profits achieved along the way.
Fast forward to when we all have electric cars. My car is parked off road and could be charged overnight, but many people are forced to park on the road away from their homes. If they all need to charge up their cars during evenings and weekends, acres of land will be taken up creating charging parks. I fill my car with petrol once a week with normal use and it takes about ten minutes maximum but I understand an electric car takes in excess of 30 minutes. The present range of electric cars is fine for a short commute or driving into town but totally inadequate with modern car usage, for instance going on holiday. Who will rescue a motorist who runs out of power on the M6?
How can we believe what we are told after all that emerged regarding the super eco-diesel engines?
When fossil fuel is finally replaced, rest assured that governments will ensure that the loss of revenue will be compensated for by taxation in some other form. A form of clean propulsion is obviously necessary but I think my motoring days will be over by the time this happens. Bill Sutton Chapelfields