| |
Selfish to cling to car
• I DESPAIR at the constant petty politicking recorded in articles (‘Slap in the face’ as Labour and Tories block red route protest, January 2) and letters to your paper.
It now amounts to fiddling while Rome burns. The planet and the future of our children and grandchildren are in danger due to rapidly accelerating climate change, yet we are still selfishly clinging to the individual use of the car, its major cause.
Now, speed of operation is needed and democracy is a lumbering instrument. Surely, shopkeepers must acknowledge that reduction in trade is more due to the credit crunch than occasional Sunday parking being restricted.
Jennette Arnold, the new Labour chairwoman of the London Assembly who is also our representative, and Mayor Boris Johnson have huge responsibility for London and its transport systems. Being true to his supporters, Mr Johnson has stopped the extension of the congestion charge to west London, hardly an environmentally friendly move. He was voted in mainly by Tory-leaning, outer London boroughs whose residents cling to the use of the car even though they will be poisoned along with the rest of us.
They both agree, however, that London must be taken as a whole on transport and whoever is mayor is forced to consider the general fortunes of widely differing groups of people.
It is a pity that the Liberal Democrats, clinging to power in Islington, are supporting the minority car users instead of the general good. Air pollution near many roads in this country averages well over double the World Health Organisation maximum recommended level, the major culprit being PM10s, minute sooty particles linked to asthma and heart disease. The government’s own figures estimate they result in 12,000 to 24,000 deaths a year in the UK.
The PM10 pollution is particularly bad in London, and I welcome any action involving cooperation between the parties.
AVIS SALTSMAN BALDRY
Gerrard Road,
N1
|
 |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
