Drivers have rights
There are around 38 million licensed vehicles in the UK – a huge constituency that any sensible politician would respect – so why do even Tory politicians, elected on a pledge to listen to the people, show a blatant disregard for the needs of the car driver? Back in May, Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, used the pandemic as an opportunity to launch a crusade for cycling and walking – a potentially sound idea if managed properly, but the details of his plan were deeply flawed. Local councils took it as an excuse – and have been incentivised – to reroute, shut roads and generally clamp down on driving in a deeply undemocratic fashion. The public wasn’t consulted; the Covid emergency was cited.
The historic high street of Welwyn in Herts, for example, has been transformed into an abysmal one-way system lined with barriers. The official intention was to help people shop by widening the walkways to facilitate social distancing; the outcome is that cars have taken different routes, footfall has fallen and the barriers are hideously ugly. There have been outbreaks of middle-class vandalism as people take them down under the cover of dark. The irony is that Welwyn happens to fall in Mr Shapp’s constituency and the minister has shamelessly been lobbying against them, trying to clean up the effects of his own policy. The reality is that the overwhelming majority of cancelled car parking spaces on high streets and shopping parades across the UK lie utterly unused: they are not being used for al-fresco dining, or walkways or bicycle tracks. They are just wasted spaces. The policy is entirely destructive, with no upside.
Of course, closing a few roads in some areas will doubtless make sense, as would some judicious, occasional pedestrianisation. But this isn’t what is happening here, contrary to official propaganda. Many businesses are suffering; roads that were once quiet have become a noisy detour; and residents with mobility issues need to park vast distances away from the shops or find that a simple drive is transformed into a marathon around a complex one-way system. Local authorities have got to put a stop to this and Mr Shapps needs to rethink his policy. The Government mustn’t leave drivers at the mercy of anti-car fundamentalists, or else there will be repercussions at the ballot box – after all, this is meant to be a red wall, popular, democratic government, not a Lib Dem nightmare. Are you listening, Mr Shapps?