‘We still hold on to the idea that driving is convenient, quick and cheap. But this doesn’t really hold up in the Bishop’s Stortford of today’

Louise Tennekoon, of the Bishop’s Stortford Climate Group, writes a regular column for the Indie on environmental matters…

The Bishop’s Stortford Cycling Festival took place in glorious sunshine on June 12. Several hundred people came down to Sworder’s Field to try out the fiendish pump track, whizz around on super-speedy e-bikes and get their own bikes security tagged by the police. It was a great start to celebrating cycling in our town and the organisers hope to make it an annual event.

But of course, this sort of event doesn’t solve our ever-growing, multi-layered traffic problem.

Traffic is an environmental problem, as most of the cars on our streets are still powered by petrol or diesel engines, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and contributing to global heating.

It is also a health problem, leading to deteriorating air quality. I only really think about air quality when I smell exhaust fumes as I’m walking down the street and then I think of it as a sporadic problem. When the smell is gone, I assume the air is fine. But what if it’s not?

I entered my postcode at addresspollution.org and it showed that levels of pollutants in the air exceed three World Health Organisation (WHO) limits. This includes fine particulates known as PM2.5, which are associated with strokes, asthma and an increase in cancers. At my house, apparently, the average annual level is double the WHO limit.

Anyone who has sat in a logjam of traffic on The Causeway will know that traffic can be a mental health problem, ratcheting up our stress levels. And – counter-intuitively – it is an economic problem, as evidence shows that people accessing town centres by car in fact spend less time and less money than those arriving by bus or on foot.

We still hold on to the idea that driving is convenient, quick and cheap. But this doesn’t really hold up in the Bishop’s Stortford of today.

Car use is no longer quick or convenient because of the sheer number of cars clogging our town. And it is certainly no longer the cheap option. Even the AA is encouraging drivers to ‘cut out short journeys’ and travel on foot or by bike to save money.

It feels like the perfect moment to shift our mindset and reset our relationship with our cars. So I was intrigued to read about the latest campaign from environmental charity Possible: the Car Free July challenge.

To take part, sign up at Going Car Free 2022 – Possible (wearepossible.org) and you will be automatically entered into a prize draw to win some fabulous car-free prizes.

In return, the lovely people at Possible will send you weekly suggested milestones. These might be to swap a regular car journey for a car-free option, talk about Going Car Free with your friends and family, or even write to your local authority about people-friendly streets. With each extra milestone you reach, you’ll get an extra entry into the prize draw.

Despite its name, the campaign isn’t necessarily about going completely car free. It’s about looking at the car journeys you do take and asking yourself whether there is a car-free option, then giving it a try.

I’m as likely as the next person to tell myself that I have to use the car to get the kids to a club on time or to fit in with our busy lives. But is that really true?

Walking my son up the hill to Cubs last week did involve leaving 10 minutes earlier, but it gave us a 15-minute walk, hand-in-hand, with him chatting away to me. If we’d been in the car we would have missed the magic of those moments, that connection.

So I’m going to use the inspiration of this campaign to change some of the assumptions I make about using the car. I hope it may inspire you too.

But, of course, we need system-level change if we are to see a long-term change in behaviour. Frustratingly, it feels like we are moving in the wrong direction.

With closure of the Causeway car park, we have lost the two e-cars that were available for short-term hire. And although the Department for Transport has awarded Hertfordshire County Council £9m to support active travel, none of that money is coming to Bishop’s Stortford. The reasons behind this are undoubtedly complex, but a lack of political support seems to be at least partly to blame.

That is why the Bishop’s Stortford Climate Group has launched a petition calling on Herts County Council to “commit now to completing the towns’ priority cycling routes and ensuring that all spending on roads in the towns (Stortford and Sawbridgeworth) is used to improve safety and extend the network of routes suitable for cyclists and walkers”.

Jill Goldsmith, of the climate group, explained the rationale behind the petition: “We’ve been calling for investment in cycling and walking infrastructure improvements for years, to reduce carbon emissions, improve health and save people money.

“Despite the climate emergency, new highways schemes from Herts County Council are still biased in favour of cars and there is no resourced plan for delivering improvements.

“So the only option we have left is to mobilise the residents of our two towns and show the council that this is a priority for us and we expect them to deliver the safe walking and cycling routes that we deserve.”

You can add your name to the petition at: Prioritise walking and cycling in Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbridgeworth Change.org. Please don’t leave it to someone else to make this happen.

The goal is to reach 1,000 names, but a lot more signatures are needed to get to that point. So please sign, spread the word and encourage your family, friends, neighbours and colleagues to sign it too.