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Oxford LTN (Oxford City Council)GB News presenter claims 15-minute cities and LTNs are "un-British" and "illiberal"
Comments like those GB News presenter Mark Dolan made during his Saturday night 'Tonight' programme used to be the preserve of ranting anonymous Twitter accounts and conspiracy theorists. However, with Conservative 'red wall' MP Nick Fletcher this week raising similar concerns in Parliament, it seems the 15-minute city 'debate' is going nowhere.
Addressing Don Valley MP Fletcher's House of Commons words, Dolan delivered a six-minute-long 15-minute city monologue, working towards the punchline, "it took me less than 15 minutes to realise they are a terrible idea".
Claiming the schemes — aimed at enabling active travel so many local amenities can be reached by bike or on foot within 15 minutes — are the creation of "creepy local authority bureaucrats" hoping to instil "a surveillance culture that would make Pyongyang envious", Dolan worked through many of the 'greatest hits' of those who oppose the concept.
'These deeply illiberal, unBritish 15-minute cities are beyond the pale. They're hurting communities, hurting small businesses and they’ve got to go. And it didn’t take me 15 minutes to work that out.'@MrMarkDolan on the 'dystopian plans' for so-called '15-minute cities'. pic.twitter.com/pxZBV6MZCI
— GB News (@GBNEWS) February 11, 2023
"These deeply illiberal, un-British 15-minute cities are beyond the pale," he argued. "They're hurting communities, hurting small businesses and they've got to go. And it didn't take me 15 minutes to work that out."
And while many who saw Dolan's rant questioned on social media whether convenient access to shops without using a car is un-British, the segment also garnered a predictable stream of conspiratorial-minded replies too.
"Creepy local authority bureaucrats would like to see your entire existence boiled down to the duration of a quarter of an hour," Dolan told GB News' Saturday night viewers. "This dystopian plan in some of Britain's most iconic towns and cities being blocked off, with cars being restricted to certain areas, all overseen by number plate recognition cameras installed everywhere, with a surveillance culture that would make Pyongyang envious.
"Many consider this idea laudable – 15-minute cities make everything walkable. You can go by foot to grab a coffee, do your grocery shopping, have a pint. And if you don't fancy walking, everything you need is just a five-minute bicycle ride away. Lovely.
"Fans of this scheme say it will deal with traffic and congestion and make life easier, more convenient and sustainable for locals. Except that as the MP Nick Fletcher, who has raised the question about this in parliament points out, these low-traffic neighbourhoods are having an impact on small businesses, given the lack of passing trade they now receive."
Earlier this week, Fletcher told the House of Commons that 15-minute cities are an "international socialist concept" which "take away our personal freedom" and "destroy our towns and cities and keep us prisoners in our communities", seemingly providing the inspiration for Dolan's rant.
> Tory MP attacks 15-minute city concept with known conspiracy theory
The MP's comments were fact-checked by Reuters' Nick Hardinges and prompted Oxford City Council to insist that in the case of its scheme "no filters will 'trap' residents... they're points on a road, not a 'zone'. People living on roads near them can enter & leave via other roads ANY time without a permit".
And another about a so-called 'climate lockdown' in Oxford/Oxfordshire...
— Nick Hardinges (@NickHardinges) February 10, 2023
However, Dolan's 'Take at Ten' did not seem concerned with this, instead accusing the schemes of "crushing enterprise" and being an "unprecedented assault on how we go about living our lives – allowing the state to control your movements by car".
"It genuinely feels like a policy that would happen in mainland China, not Sheffield, Canterbury, Bristol or that great seat of western enlightenment, Oxford," he continued. "How shameful that any of this should happen in Britain, the home of liberal democracy, the home of free speech, the home of individual self-determination.
"People aren't stupid. Most people don't use cars unnecessarily – they get behind the wheel when they need to get somewhere, perhaps taking people with them – dropping the kids off to school, or a builder with colleagues in the back, or taking tools to a job.
> Levels of motor traffic nearly halved within London LTNs, new study finds
"During the pandemic, when the likes of myself and others warned that we were setting a precedent, allowing the state to encroach so much on our lives, controlling our movements to 'stop Covid', we were labelled mad conspiracy theorists.
"Well, state overreach is now the norm and these 15-minute cities, low-traffic neighbourhoods and ULEZ zones are just another example. I'm sorry, but in a free country, you ought to be able to get in a car and drive wherever you like. But that freedom is already starting to feel like a distant memory."
Before the expansion of car ownership literally all British cities/towns/neighbourhoods were like this , I thought you were defenders of traditional British traditions & values?
— Martin (@martyj21) February 12, 2023
Fellas, is it unBritish to live within walking distance of shops and other amenities?
— Adair (@rpxadair) February 12, 2023
I forgot all those times my dad would come home and say “oh lots of traffic on the road home, it was amazing” “can’t wait for the commute tomorrow, thank god my work isn’t closer because of those Marxist” or “bloody hell, a shop is opening down the road, what’s next a local pub!”
— Allan 🌱🕊🚲 (@AllansGray) February 12, 2023
Criticism of 15-minute cities has become popular among high-profile right-wing figures such as Laurence Fox and Katie Hopkins, while in December Nigel Farage warned that "climate change lockdowns" are coming. With Fletcher and Dolan's comments reaching the House of Commons and right-wing media, it seems we can expect plenty more still to come.
This week, police in Bethnal Green, East London, urged Tower Hamlets Borough Council to not scrap a Liveable Streets scheme, saying that it has resulted in a reduction in antisocial behaviour-related crime.
The appeal was made in their response to a consultation into removing the low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme around Arnold Circus, on the fringes of the popular night-time area of Shoreditch.
The police response, posted to Twitter as a screenshot by the Clean Bethnal Green account, highlighted that antisocial behaviour had fallen by more than a third in the six months after the LTN was put in place, compared to the preceding six months, and warned that removing could see levels of crime, as well as road danger rise.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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51 comments
All I can hear is Colin from Portsmouth saying all this
Thanks for having me on. Love to the Family.
Destroying our roads and letting people enjoy themselves
How long before someone realises that Jimmy Saville rode a bike and brings us the *real sickening truth* behind all this apparently "family friendly" infra...!
Well, I have seen a genuine tweet that pointed out that the Nazis used bicycles...
Yes, but so did the communists.....
That's why they didn't get far:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK7scA-9288
I'm confused. Do LTNs create thriving local businesses and environments where it is not just safe, but actually pleasant to walk about or even stop and sit for a while. Like in the pictures that anti LTN protagonists seem to use to illustrate their argument in some sort of opposite world style. Or do they prevent passing motorists from shopping from the comfort of their moving (or, more likely, traffic jam gridlocked) car as they use the area as a convenient rat run?
Both; Schrodinger's LTNs.
Deliberate obfuscation, rhetoric and presenting a black-and-white 'them and us' narrative to the public. The blatant simplicity of this approach is what makes it attractive to most people who watch GB News IMO.
Reminds me of this neat little graphic that popped up in my fb feed (image not a click link)
It's rather ironic that a presenter on the deeply illiberal GB News is criticising 15 minute cities as being deeply illiberal. But I suspect he might not have the IQ to understand that.
He'll probably have forgotten what he said by now.
Once you get passed the revolving eyes and spittle-flecked ranting, the real meat of it is the proposition;
"I'm sorry, but in a free country, you ought to be able to get in a car and drive wherever you like."
To which the obvious answer, is, no you shouldn't. Not when you are driving a polluting machine that poisons and kills people.
An interesting thought experiement is to ask what we are doing now that, in 50 years, or 100 years will be considered as bizarre as women not having the vote, or homosexuality being illegal.
I'd certainly offer combustion engines in residential areas as being towards the top of the list.
Pollution is possibly not even the main issue. And we addressed "road death" by making cars much safer for drivers and moving everyone else out of the way.
As hawkinspeter's comment points out hypermobility amplifies the existing trend towards centralisation and radically changes what "community" means. Many people live with the pollution, increased danger, suppressed active mobility and constant low- level irritation that come with mass motoring (noise, cars in the way, bigger distances between buildings because car access and parking...) Places become "unviable" as amenities are lost. Some convert into "dormitory villages".
I have to say I'm surprised by how many people are filled with existential terror at the thought of doing a 15 minute walk
I think this is actually pretty genuine; it's a drastic change in mentality! For most people who drive to places all the time, this would mean: a) no last-minute journeys and actually planning time for things, b) no rushing, unless you want to be a sweaty mess, c) actually dressing up appropriately for the weather and time of day.
I know this seems silly but this is exactly the thought process that people, like my ex-partner who would drive to the shops that are a ten-minute walk away, would use as justification to continue driving.
Agree. Like owning a car - after you've had one for a bit you don't think of all the admin much, you just get on with it. Before though - look at all the paperwork, expense, where will I park...?
So while changing to do some trips by cycling is unlikely to elicit "it would run my life" it would certainly be a significant mental shift. Especially in the UK, where you'll stand out in most places. And since we don't have casual side-by-side social cycling (like for every other mode of transport) if you want company it's not a car pool / lift share - you'd be joining a tribe!
Folks will be acutely aware of "what I'm missing" for a period. However some months later, having understood what you need with you, suitable carrier / local routes and timings in place and you'll hear them say things like "I enjoy getting in to work" / "I went for a ride after x..." / "I found this shop with really nice staff on the way to z ..."
That's more or less the process I went through myself. I sold my car in 2021 to settle some teacher training student debt and haven't looked back since. I don't think I could ever go back to regularly commuting by car, to be honest!
I'm just reading an old history book, I'm sure it will cover the factors that allowed this broadcasting company to form: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS-GB
Is that a rip-off of the idea behind The Man In The High Castle by Philip K Dick?
I do like Philip K Dick. I think my favourite is either Time out of Joint or A Scanner Darkly. I've actually been called a Dickhead quite a few times because I like his books so much.
He was a great writer and so many of his books were made into films. A scanner darkly is a masterpiece, though not as well known as some of his others.
It's annoying that so many of the film adaptations are rubbish, but A Scanner Darkly was probably the closest to the book. I enjoyed watching The Man In The High Castle series, but it was quite disturbing seeing swastikas flags on U.S. buildings.
That reminds me, I've got an old VHS cassette of Barjo lurking around somewhere, but it's all in French.
Well, that is the correct designation for a PKD fan and I would count myself as a Dickhead too.
Unfortunately, Michel Gondry abandoned filming Ubik as it's too difficult.
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/michel-gondry-abandons-ubik/
My favourite PKD is VALIS. Totally mad, very readable.
I remember being quite shocked when reading that and realising who the main character was. Radio Free Albemuth was his earlier attempt to come to terms with his psychosis and has been made into a passable film (I still curse the KickStarter for that as it took years for them to send me my copy - I had to pirate it before they released it for the UK market).
I would argue that alternative history reinterpretations of WW2 are as old as WW2 itself, but this is weirdly coincidental. I like United States of Japan by Pieter Tieryas too, it's cyberpunk and very very cool.
The earliest one I can find is The Sound of His Horn (by Sarban) from 1952 - beat PKD by 10 years.
Probably, but the BBC did a TV series of SS-GB which I think predates TMITHC...
I'm downloading a copy of that now as I hadn't heard of it before.
However, PKD wrote TMITHC back in 1962 - he was definitely ahead of his time and we're now living in his schizophrenic world
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