by Rhoda Wilson, Daily Expose:
New measures proposed by the Scottish government in a recent document outline a war on carbon and a war on cars. It includes a plan to implement restrictive 20-minute neighbourhoods so that the Government can deliver on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Environmentalists have had it in for cars for years, wrote Spiked Online last year, we all know they’d like to ban cars altogether. In the age of “net zero,” the car is public enemy No1. And so, we’ve had a long line of proposals to make driving more expensive and difficult.
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For example, in April 2022, Stefanie O’Gorman, who sits on the Scottish government’s Climate Emergency Response Group, said that the construction of houses with double garages drove her “bonkers.” She told the Edinburgh Science Festival that owning two cars ignores “the social and cultural changes taking place as we adapt our lives to live more sustainably… we can’t afford for everybody to have two cars.”
In November 2022, the Scottish government published a revised draft of their ‘National Planning Framework 4’ which dramatically begins: “The global climate emergency means that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the future impacts of climate change.”
A few paragraphs later it states, “We have already taken significant steps towards decarbonising energy and land use, but choices need to be made about how we can make sustainable use of our natural assets in a way which benefits communities.”
Don’t be fooled by the fluffy language. The Scottish government’s efforts are not an attempt to “benefit communities.” As the draft itself states, the Scottish government is planning “future places” on six principles that “will play a key role in delivering on the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
Whom do the SDGs benefit? To demonstrate who benefits we’ll use the example of SDG7 on which we have recently published two articles, see below, and in a nutshell: SDG7 has the goal to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.” We are told that the whole point of “sustainable development” is to mitigate the problems that will supposedly be caused by humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions. This fairy tale has left most people labouring under the illusion that SDG7 energy transition, and the variations on the associated “net zero” policy commitment, will reduce CO2 emissions. That assumption is wrong. The reality is the UN’s “sustainable” goal for renewable energy is sheer fantasy, if not utter madness and is a scam to enable the rich to become richer off the backs of the poor.
Read more:
- UN’s “sustainable” goal for renewable energy is sheer fantasy, if not utter madness
- UN’s goal to reduce carbon emissions is a scam to enable the rich to become richer off the backs of the poor
One of the Scottish government’s six principles to deliver on the UN’s goals in its National Planning Framework is “local living”:
Local living. We will support local liveability and improve community health and well-being by ensuring people can easily access services, greenspace, learning, work and leisure locally.
National Planning Framework 4: revised draft, Part 1 – A National Spatial Strategy for Scotland 2045, Scottish Government, 8 November 2022
To understand what is meant by “locally” and how they plan to achieve “locally,” we need to read further into the draft, wade through more gibberish and follow the word trail.
The “national spatial strategy,” the draft says, will support the planning and delivery of “sustainable places,” “liveable places” and “productive places.” According to the Scottish government, a “sustainable place” includes:
Scotland’s Climate Change Plan, backed by legislation, has set our approach to achieving net zero emissions by 2045, and we must make significant progress towards this by 2030 including by reducing car kilometres travelled by 20% by reducing the need to travel and promoting more sustainable transport.
National Planning Framework 4: revised draft, Part 1 – A National Spatial Strategy for Scotland 2045, Scottish Government, 8 November 2022
The draft then gives the precise method the Government plans to use to “reduce the need to travel.”
Several policies support more local living and limit the use of additional land for development, the draft says. One of these policies is Policy 15 “which promotes local living, including where feasible 20-minute neighbourhoods.” It almost sounds as if 20-minute neighbourhoods are an optional nice to have. But this is most likely more fluffy language because Policy 15 was written with one, and only one, purpose.
Policy 15 falls under the “intent” to encourage, promote and facilitate development by applying the “Place Principle.” Place Principle appears to be some sort of communist ideology but, to be honest, their gibberish is difficult to decipher while at the same time sifting through all the fluffy language. So, returning to the proposed restrictions on the freedom to travel, the sole purpose of Policy 15 is that:
Development proposals will contribute to local living including, where relevant, 20-minute neighbourhoods. To establish this, consideration will be given to existing settlement pattern, and the level and quality of interconnectivity of the proposed development with the surrounding area, including local access to:
- sustainable modes of transport including local public transport and safe, high-quality walking, wheeling and cycling networks;
- employment;
- shopping;
- health and social care facilities;
- childcare, schools and lifelong learning opportunities;
- playgrounds and informal play opportunities, parks, green streets and spaces, community gardens, opportunities for food growth and allotments, sport and recreation facilities;
- publicly accessible toilets;
- affordable and accessible housing options, ability to age in place and housing diversity.
National Planning Framework 4: revised draft, Part 2 – National Planning Policy, Scottish Government, 8 November 2022
“Publicly accessible toilets.” You can’t have employment or visit family members who live further than 20 minutes away, but you will have access to public toilets. Which could be useful for the elderly and parents with babies or toddlers who will, no doubt, be required to walk or cycle everywhere and so definitely won’t be visiting family unless they live practically next door.
As we have seen in Oxford, people do not take kindly to measures forcibly curtailing freedom of movement and freedoms in general. London boroughs are also preparing a defence against the attempted expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (“ULEZ”).
