 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||
|
June 2002 |
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FUEL FOR THOUGHT |  Back to contents | |
|
|
|||
|
|
There is no doubt that road vehicles have a significant impact on the environment and on people's health as traffic is a major contributor to air pollution and climate change. In July 1998, the then Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions (DETR), in its paper A new deal for transport: Better for everyone, estimated that "up to 24,000 vulnerable people die prematurely each year, and similar numbers are admitted to hospital, because of exposure to air pollution, much of which is due to road traffic".1 But, while tighter emission standards and advances in vehicle design and "greener" fuels are contributing to the ongoing reduction in local air pollution emissions from road traffic, in the long term local air quality targets are unlikely to be met in urban areas without significant efforts to reduce the growing number of vehicles on our roads. According to the DETR: "Even (the current) downward trend in emissions will not be sufficient in places to reach our local air quality objectives set for 2005".1 It is widely agreed that vehicle emission legislation and new fuel quality directives emanating from Europe will lead to emission reductions over the next decade or so. However, it is also recognised that with no further action, the anticipated growth in traffic will offset any legislation and new technologies, and emissions will start to rise again.2 The Government, therefore, faces a huge challenge in talking people
out of their cars and into alternative, sustainable, forms of transport.
In the UK's car-dependent culture, this will be no easy task and
if the situation as described above is to be avoided, then successful
moves need to be made in the short term. In November 1999, Edinburgh City Council published its first City Plan, which laid out the council's five-year vision for the city. The council's long-term plan involved ensuring that the city would become "a capital city of international standing", whose "economic, social, educational and cultural advantages are equally accessible to all, and where the gap between different individuals in the community - especially the most vulnerable - in health, safety and quality of life is closing".3 With this visionary outlook steering policy and planning, the local authority was the driving force behind the creation of the UK's first purpose built private car-free housing development. Developed by Canmore Housing Association on the former Gorgie railway goods yard, Slateford Green demonstrates that it is possible to live without a car and to create a safer, greener, less toxic environment with significantly reduced local vehicle emissions. According to Graham Harper, development officer at Canmore Housing Association, "on part of the site we had built a conventional development of houses, flats and workspaces for small businesses. The other part was originally earmarked for a supermarket and for a private housing development". But, he recalls that "the local authority at the time wanted the developer to build the housing car free, or build a link road through the site as 'planning gain'- or as we developers affectionately call it - 'planning bribe'". Neither of these options appealed to the developers so Canmore Housing Association stepped in. An architectural competition was held, open to Scottish and Dutch architects - the Netherlands being considered field leaders when it comes to sustainable housing design - and in the end, a firm from Edinburgh won the competition. Within the European cities that have promoted car-free housing developments, the "rules" governing car-free status appear to vary quite widely, with practically all developments stopping short of eliminating all car use entirely. Enforcement of the car-free nature of a development is also variable, and as Mr Harper points out, in the case of Slateford Green, "those who buy or rent in this development do so as a matter of choice and in the full knowledge of the development." There were stories in the local press that residents had to hand in their car keys as a condition of gaining a tenancy. "This is nonsense," he says. While, in real terms, there is no regulation to ban residents from owning a car, Canmore Housing Association does have powers to ensure that no unauthorised vehicles are parked on site. As Fergus Allan, from Canmore Housing Association, explains: " We demonstrated to the council that less than 20 per cent of our tenants were car owners in the planning application. The powers to ensure car-free status come through a section 75 planning condition." For tenants, this means a clause within the lease stipulating that there is no available on-site parking, and for owner-occupiers a similar clause in the deeds. But what of the residents that have elected to keep a car? Clearly, there is the potential that parking off-site in the neighbourhood might cause a nuisance. According to Mr Allan, there have been no reported problems to date. The site is ideally suited to such a development, says the housing association, as it is well served by public transport. To encourage a more sustainable mode of transport, cycle storage is provided and there is space for a car club vehicle adjacent to the site. The Edinburgh City Car Club, a pay-as-you-drive car sharing scheme, initially failed. "A subsidiary of Budget Rent-a-Car was running the club initially," says Mr Allan, "with around nine designated spaces in the city". However, in March 2001 the company withdrew, something that appeared to anger both the council and local residents as it left many of its members with severely reduced mobility. The following August, Smart Moves Ltd was appointed as operator of the car club, and hopes are high that this time around the scheme will be more successful. Other local authorities throughout the UK have taken a different approach to vehicle reduction in their areas. Camden Borough Council, for example, one of the UK's leading borough's when it comes to taking an holistic approach to transport planning, housing, land use and air pollution is taking a wider environmental initiative. Local strategy, which encompasses air pollution, noise reduction, safety improvements and community issues means that car-free housing is being promoted as a planning policy where the space traditionally reserved for car parking is instead used for additional units or greener spaces. According to Chris Myers, a spokesperson for the council, the aim is to reduce traffic to create a more pleasant environment, with any resultant reductions in vehicle emissions an added bonus. At the London Borough of Enfield, the emphasis is on traffic reduction through reduced car parking. "The council is not building and has not yet approved any car free developments," says Laura Berryman. "However, in appropriate locations, for example town centres with good public transport, planning permission has been granted for residential developments with reduced levels of parking," she adds. Once such development is Tower Point in Enfield Town. Other initiatives include the encouragement of a car club. "Planning permission has also been granted for a housing development in the north east of Enfield that required the developer to set up a car club to provide an alternative form of travel for residents," explains Ms Berryman. Two years on from the construction of Slateford Green, what lessons, if any, have been learned and would the developer get involved in such a project again? "We don't intend that it should be a one off, but that lessons learned should quickly be implemented in our future developments," says Mr Harper. While the housing for private sale was slow to sell, this was not down to the car-free status alone, Mr Harper believes, but also because of the radical architecture and mix of tenures. However, for all the efforts of local authorities and developers there are those who believe that car-free housing, ultimately, will not stand up to basic human nature. Even at Slateford Green, around a quarter of residents still own a car, but park off site. Until public transport is improved nationally and the image of the car as a status symbol is removed, it is possible that such housing is destined to be filed in the "novelty" box forever. References
|
||
