A “crackpot conspiracy theory” that misrepresents the urban planning concept of the 15-minute city led to the government slashing funding for active travel and pledge to review measures aimed at curbing the use of private motor vehicles, it has emerged.
The Guardian’s Peter Walker reports that documents obtained by the Transport Action Network (TAN), which has brought a legal challenge to the swingeing cuts imposed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt last year, reveal that conspiracy theories were partly responsible for the change in tack by the government.
The news that government transport policy – and in particular, that surrounding motoring and active travel – is now apparently being shaped by outlandish claims that have no grounding in reality drew plenty of comment on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, this morning, including from the broadcaster James O’Brien and London’s walking and cycling commissioner, Will Norman.
> Boris Johnson reveals how he will bring in “new golden age for cycling”
In May 2020, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson heralded a “new golden age for cycling” to be funded by the £2 billion over five years that then Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, had announced for active travel three months previously.
But last March, with Sunak now installed as Prime Minister at No. 10 Downing Street, Hunt slashed that promised spend by two thirds, with active travel funding in England outside London currently standing at £1 per person per year, compared to £38 in Scotland and £22 in Wales.
> “A backward move” – Government slashes active travel budget for England
Subsequently, in September Sunak unveiled his ‘plan for drivers’, pledging to review low-traffic neighbourhoods and the rollout of 20mph speed limits, among other things.
Papers obtained by TAN as part of its legal challenge, for which it has crowdfunded nearly £40,000, show that opposition to measures aimed at reducing car use and promoting active travel lay behind the government’s decision, with Transport Secretary Mark Harper telling a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference in September that the concept of the 15-minute city meant that “local councils can decide how often you go to the shops” – something that has no basis in fact.
However, the documents seen by TAN show that such thoughts have been influential in shaping the direction of transport policy at Westminster.
> Tory MP attacks 15-minute city concept with known conspiracy theory
Chris Todd, director of TAN, told the Guardian: “These shocking revelations show Rishi Sunak was more concerned with crazy conspiracy theories than helping people travel safely and cheaply.
“It’s absurd for ministers to be swept away by hysteria about 15-minute cities, at the same time that other government departments were defending them.”
Responding this morning to the document’s revelations, London’s walking and cycling commissioner Will Norman wrote: “National policy should not be set by listening to crack-pot conspiracy theories instead of actual evidence.
“Data repeatedly shows well-planned LTNs work and 20mph saves lives. DFT dropping active travel ‘quietly’ with no public announcements is wrong.”
“Even when remarking on air that it seemed the government was tailoring policy for the maddest people on Facebook, I held out hope they weren’t,” added LBC’s James O’Brien.
> Why is the 15-minute city attracting so many conspiracy theories?
Devised by Sorbonne academic Carlos Moreno, the 15-minute city concept puts forward the idea that all essential services – schools, shops, medical facilities and the like – be no more than a 15-minute walk from where people live.
Conspiracy theorists – many of whom are also opposed to vaccinations against COVID-19, or measures aimed at reducing the impact of climate change – have inaccurately portrayed it as meaning that ordinary people will not be able to travel more than 15 minutes from their homes, with governments, claimed to be backed by some global elite, imposing restrictions on where they can go.
The concept hit the headlines in the UK last year when Oxford outlined plans to restrict vehicle movements through the city centre, dividing the city into different zones.
Aimed at restricting the use of private motor vehicles and getting more people walking, cycling and using public transport, the proposals were seized upon by conspiracy theorists who erroneously claimed that the plans would result in people being corralled within the area where they reside, and not allowed to travel elsewhere in the city.
Coincidentally, anyone in Oxford who remains confused about what a 15-minute city is and isn’t can find out all about the concept at the end of February at a public lecture at the University of Oxford from the man who invented the concept, Carlos Moreno.
Big news and very relevant today: Carlos Moreno is giving a public lecture in Oxford about what 15 min cities actually mean and why it might be quite nice for local residents to have shops nearby to them. https://t.co/ovGZhwCCgs
— Cllr Emily Kerr 💚 (@EmilyKerr36) January 10, 2024