31 Have an honest conversation about cars

It’s time to come out and say it: cars, no matter what they run on, are incredibly destructive. In a country where citizens do not have the right to bear arms, cars are probably the most destructive technology that you will ever lay your hands on. (If you are not convinced of this, see Appendix 2 – The Dirty Dozen.) And yet, without forgetting the 30% who don’t have access to a car, most of us do use them (including 79% of York Cycle Campaign members). But the reality in York is that many of our car journeys are trivial or unnecessary and could be undertaken by other means. Most of us choose to drive because it’s too easy, it’s become normalised, we feel that there is no alternative. Driving is not always great, far from it, but we are still going to have to make driving less attractive as well as dramatically improving the alternatives if we are going to kick our selfdestructive car habit.

Reducing unnecessary journeys, and therefore lessening our car dependence should be a primary strategic aim of the York Local Plan, as travel is affected by how and where we build and this touches every aspect of our lives. Following on from that, the Local Transport Plan should then set out the ways in which we can develop all the necessary alternatives – cycling, walking and public transport. We need to set ambitious targets for both plans and then detail exactly how and when this will be achieved. Lack of ambition has been the definitive feature of the LTP3 to date. This needs to change.