IT IS once more the season of consultations ( Local Plan, Station Approach), when we are asked to endorse a series of unimpeachable aims (cleaner air, more “active” transport, more affordable housing, biodiversity, high quality architecture, improved maintenance of public spaces, more jobs and revenue for the city). The next stage is usually that specific measures to realise these aims are bitterly disputed because they interfere with the amenities or privileges of one or other group. And so, for the last 20 years plans have come and gone in Winchester and little has been done.
Democracy in action, perhaps, and I do admire the persistence and tolerance of boredom and bureaucracy of our city councillors, and have no wish to join them. The underlying problem, it seems to me, is that we in rich western societies have built ourselves into a web of interconnected systems in order to create a luxurious lifestyle that many people now feel they are entitled to, without accounting for the true cost of technical and political innovations. Any attempt to mitigate the harms of our way of life is almost certain to be mired in objections.
I should like to suggest a relatively simple measure that I think might move us in the right direction. Reduction in traffic levels is a key aim of any plan, and it is clear to all that the quality of life in the city is greatly reduced by the number of cars and HGVs on our streets. A congestion charge, which could initially at least be a modest sum, .