Lack of alternatives will stall car ban plan

The nation’s love affair with the car shows no sign of easing, despite sustained efforts to get people out from behind their steering wheels and on to bikes, pavements and public transport.

The natural progression, with the nation’s health affected by pollution from vehicle emissions, is to consider a ban.

It has happened with other menaces to public health like smoking and cheap alcohol and junk food is next in the firing line.

According to a new survey, nearly half of Scots would back the removal of cars in the country’s city centres.

Only in Perth – surprisingly, given Atholl Street is one of the country’s pollution hotspots – were more people against a ban than for it.

It is worth considering if the figures would be even more positive for the environmental lobby were public transport and sustainable transport links better.

While much work has been done to join up cycle routes and make walkways fit-for-purpose, they are a far cry from those seen in many continental cities. Likewise, bus routes need to be extended to ensure maximum coverage. Work to boost vehicles’ “green” credentials has to continue.

Train travel between cities must become affordable and reliable – neither is currently the case in Tayside and Fife.

The fact is, it remains cheaper and more convenient to use a car and until that changes, the brakes will have to be slammed on any notion of a ban.