‘Let’s banish rush hour forever’ says Kent roads chief

Call to adopt lockdown lifestyle changes

A highways boss has urged thousands of drivers to avoid jumping straight back into their cars once the coronavirus crisis ends.

Kent County Council’s (KCC) cabinet member for transport, Cllr Michael Payne (Con), said he hopes to “banish rush hour forever” as air pollution levels continue to drop due to lower vehicle activity across the county.

His comments come despite central government’s longterm plans for £28bn national road schemes to relieve congestion, including the £6.8bn Lower Thames Crossing to link Kent and Essex.

Cllr Payne said: “We owe it to the future generations not to squander this opportunity by rushing back into old habits and by jumping straight back into private cars rather than using public and other modes of transport at every opportunity.” He was speaking during a KCC virtual cabinet meeting last week. Opposition leader, Cllr Rob Bird (Lib Dem), supported Cllr

Payne’s sentiment, but said: “Frankly the public transport network in Kent, and most of the country outside London, is hopelessly inadequate.” Calling for improvements to be made, he said: “Until you have bus services which are reliable, cost-effective and timely, then we will continue to rely on the private car.” Scientist Dr Natalie Whitehead recently said CO2 emission levels were dropping around the world. It was noted that this was closely linked to lockdown measures and less frequent car travel.

But Cllr Payne said he hoped the current changes to lifestyles could assist in “preventing congestion forever”.

He added: “I’ve never understood why rush hour was called the rush hour as it’s the time traffic seems to move at its slowest.

“Let us banish rush hour forever as we reconsider the need to travel to work or to school.” He later said: “One small step for Kent would indeed be a giant leap for our country, together this could be achieved.”

‘We owe it to future generations not to rush back into old habits’

KCC’S new administration, led by Cllr Roger Gough (Con), launched a five-year plan in 2020 with a focus on making Kent ‘greener’ and achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Cllr Gough said after the meeting: “Fewer journeys by private car and flexible working are already happening in Kent. But, rather like in war time, crises like these can accelerate things that were taking place and it’s important to seize on that.”

Cllr Michael Payne