2010:
The Traffic of Time
When
does the future arrive? With regard to one earnest but defused campaign, the
year 2010 has a very special significance. The Road Traffic Reduction Acts of
the 1990s were the result of much lobbying from the green movement, along with
other pressure groups and political parties. These formed a coalition of
campaigners, with 2010 firmly in mind. The full story has never been assembled,
until now: this piece blends articles and transcripts of tape recordings from
the time, along with undocumented insights that have never been made public.
The
campaign for a Road Traffic Reduction Bill – known as the RTRB - was initiated
in 1995, and gained momentum in the run-up to the 1997 General Election. The
basic aim was to achieve a ten percent drop in road traffic levels on 1990
levels by 2010. In other words, the clock should be turned back five years –
and then another ten percent. Many social and environmental reasons were mooted
in the Bill’s mandate, including road safety, landscape protection, improved
air quality and better public transport.
One
very effective moment in the RTRB campaign was a media stunt called Surround the
DoT, held on April 13 1996. This was intended to make a very public show of
support, and numbers attending exceeded all hopes. The new Department of
Transport building in London was ringed by protestors holding posters promoting
the RTRB, with others blocking Horseferry Road, holding regional banners,
playing instruments etc. A rather unnecessary police helicopter hovered overhead
continuously: they decided to clear the road after the speeches, around 4.30,
with much booing and at least one arrest. However, it was generally a
good-humoured day in the sun, as the organizers had meant it to be, with
banners, costumes, musicians and jugglers creating an entertaining and memorable
occasion.
As
the election year of 1997 dawned, campaigners attended the Road Traffic
Reduction Bill mass lobby of Parliament on Jan 22, which began with a rally at
Westminster Central Hall. We heard rousing words from Charles Secrett, Executive
Director of Friends of the Earth who - with the Green Party and Plaid Cymru -
were promoting the Bill.
“Today,
the Government says it will support most of the Bill...building more roads is
not the solution to our traffic problems. Despite cuts in the roadbuilding
programme, fifty of our best wildlife sites are threatened by new roads.”
Secrett stressed the need for alternatives to the car, saying present policy has
“done nothing at all for people who can’t drive, or car owners who choose to
leave the blessed thing at home.”
Here
are some quick quotes from the other speakers. Labour’s Joan Walley MP:
“We’ve had tunnel vision in this country...we’re turning this juggernaut
round in terms of transport policy.”
David
Taylor, Green Party: “We want to see Andrew Smith - owner of a rather flash
BMW - endorse the principles laid out in the Bill.” Smith, the Shadow
Transport Secretary, had recently enjoyed a foreign motoring holiday.
While
supporting the Bill, Plaid Cyrmu’s Cynog Dafis MP offered a sobering note.
After a good-humoured nudge at the MP-free Greens, he said “the car industry
is taken as a barometer of success...to the detriment of our times. The Bill
provides a framework. It’s full of holes. It’s possible to pass this Bill
and not do much.”
After
an address by Joan Helme of Townswomen’s Guilds, Liberal-Democrat Don Foster
MP summed up. Introducing the Bill to Parliament, he told us “some say the
Bill has been watered down.” Here, he was alluding to amendments made to win
Government support: the dropping of specific traffic reduction targets.
Justifying the compromise, Foster added “I entered politics to make things
happen.”
Outside,
red light ‘STOP’ placards were held as a photo-stunt, with a large banner
from SCAR – South Coast Against Roadbuilding. Captain Gasmask made an
appearance, too: a masked, hooded figure who had appeared at several anti-road
protests, and been featured in local media. An almost endless queue formed by
Parliament, with cyclists riding past on decorated bikes. For those unable to
see their MPs, the organizers planned a minute’s silence in Parliament Square.
However, this spilt into unplanned chaos with a mini Reclaim the Streets.
Traffic was stopped at a crossing till Police blocked the kerb. Cars drove by
while the green man shone.
The
Bill won Government backing on Jan 24, two days later. However, it was not the
cure for all ills: the same day’s news told of the Fairmile evictions in Devon
to allow the construction of the A30 Honiton to Exeter road. While schemes like
this and Newbury continued, it was hard to correlate words with deeds.
Of
course, the 1997 General Election brought a landslide victory for Tony Blair’s
Labour Party. Hopes expressed in opposition could now, quite clearly, become
law. The RTRB organizers announced an event called the Fuming Mad Rally, to be
held in Trafalgar Square on Saturday, September 27 - just before the Labour
Party Conference. The aim? To reinstate the very targets that had been dropped
from the first Road Traffic Reduction Act, as justified by Don Foster MP. There
would also be a public meeting next day, in Brighton, where the conference was
taking place. Top speakers appeared at each, including names from FoE, the Green
Party and other political groups, plus the eco-guilty writer Ben Elton. The
Saturday event was a happy, sunny day for all: “What do we want?” cried the
presenter. “Less Traffic!” The crowd was only too keen to echo him.
The
Sunday event in Brighton focused minds rather more pragmatically on what the new
government might mean by ‘traffic reduction’. The centrepiece was a large
scroll listing the Bill’s mandate, which the organizers planned to present to
an appropriate minister.
Varied
speeches brought the inspiring rhetoric one expects at such events. The
strongest, in the opinion of many, came from the redoubtable Charles Secrett.
“I mean, normally I think I’m a pretty reasonable sort of guy,” said
Charles. “I like rational solutions to problems. But when I think - when I
look - when I experience what the reality of life is in this country, because of
the traumas inflicted on everybody by the selfish few, I get so angry. I get so
angry at the stupidity and the injustice of it all, and the waste. It doesn’t
have to be like this, and we’ve got to change it. We are changing it, slowly -
slowly - but not fast enough. I mean, it’s incredible to think - even though
the newspapers don’t report it much any more - that acid rain is still with
us. It’s with us partly because of traffic pollution...”
Charles
explained how the Conservatives were a disintegrating national force, and had
more hope for the Lib-Dems. “The media is asleep on this. You talk about a
watchdog guardian press, I mean - it’s ridiculous. I can give...that a new
government should have a honeymoon period. But, I mean, this one is turning into
a golden anniversary.”
As
Campaign Co-ordinator, Ron Bailey outlined the RTRB’s wide support. “But
there is an organization with some influence that’s in the way. It’s called
the Government.” Ron had invited all three transport ministers, but none came
to accept the scroll.
An
air of latent scepticism was revealed after the speeches, when the public had
their say. There were several questions, including a woman from Hastings who
asked how the mandate could be publicized during the coming week. Ron knew the
Ministers would feel embarrassed at their own absence, given their professed
support.
There
was also a local girl at the back of the hall, called Debbie. On the Traffic
Reduction Targets, she said, “Am I the only person who thinks they are
actually too low? We limit it to five percent or ten percent. It’s a total
compromise.”
“I
take the blame for that,” said Ron. “I had to make a political judgement
when the campaign begun, as to what I thought was achievable in the current -
then - situation. I accept it’s a compromise...but we’ve got this kind of
movement behind us, and we’ll win that compromise.”
Debbie
was keen “to push for a continuing campaign, well into the first half of the
next century.” This would mean into the year 2001, and beyond.
Ron
explained how he couldn’t speak for each organization. “I have to stick to
the mandate which all the supporters have given me, which is the ten percent.
But...as an individual, I will say that ten percent is wholly inadequate.”
The
words ‘wholly inadequate’ were to become memorable, for more than the stated
reason. When the Road Traffic Reduction (National Targets) Bill became law –
in other words, an Act – in January 1998, the targets had been dropped
entirely! A letter to the Friends of the Earth members’ journal, Earth
Matters, expressed disquiet - and was itself quoted in the free ethical
newspaper, Positive News. As the conference season came round again in
September 1998, one campaigner from the southeast decided to hold his tongue no
longer. After an imploring speech from Ron Bailey at the Green Party Conference,
wanting more activist time to be spent on the RTRB, the delegate openly
criticized the campaign’s tactics and compromises. He was allegedly met with a
hostile response, although other delegates expressed support. The RTRB ship was
leaking, however much its top brass failed to acknowledge.
Following
the controversy at the Green Party Conference, the RTRB was raised again at a
more mainstream event: a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat Conference in
Brighton, on Sept 22, hosted by the Green Lib-Dems. This was a sub-group within
the Liberal Democrats, of no relation to the Green Party. The subject? Traffic
Reduction.
The
speeches were promising, but as one man in the audience said, “I have to say
that I was in the trees at Newbury - I was very proud to be. I’m afraid I can
just never forget the Liberal Democrats for what they did there. I used to vote
Lib-Dem tactically. I can’t again. It’s very interesting that the Honourable
Member for Newbury isn’t here to discuss this quite vital issue. If you’re
going to go for 10% reduction in traffic as a policy, I’m 100% behind it - but
until I get some sort of indication that you, as a party, are going to apologise
for what you did, all this traffic reduction you call for...I just find, very
cynical.”
A
spokesman for the Green Lib-Dems replied, “We completely disagreed with the
way things happened at Newbury. I did an interview with David Rendel...and
became convinced he was expressing his sincerely believed views. I didn’t personally
believe he needed to become the national spokesman for the bypass - which I
think is what he really fouled up on. Quite often, we do face choices which are
not as easy as we’d like to think.”
David
Rendel, the Liberal Democrat MP for Newbury, had infamously supported the
destructive road while his party called for a greener transport policy. The
Newbury Bypass opened in the early hours of Tuesday, November 17 1998. No-one
wanted to cut the ribbon. Not even David Rendel MP!
Joining
the Newbury protestor in the hotel bar, we chatted over the RTRB fiasco. “I
can’t see Ron ever getting those targets now,” I said, eliciting a
disgruntled murmur from an armchair. Ron Bailey had been enjoying a drink
nearby, and overheard our conversation! The stuff of conspiracy lore, to be
sure.
Ron
joined us for a sincere chat, and recognized the Newbury protestor. He had
confronted Ron at the Green Party Conference, just a few weeks before. However,
Ron was a fair man who explained the issues with sincerity. “They promised us
five percent,” he said, referring to the target-free Act that had become law
in January. Despite all his careful lobbying in the corridors of power, Ron had
been a little too trusting of the Government.
The
RTRB organizers had another shot in 1999, with a further run of Fuming Mad
meetings. The hopes were still there, the banners still graphic, even if the
halls and crowds were a little smaller. But like the comeback tour of an ailing
rock band, there was the sense that this was a requiem rather than a revival.
Already three years closer to 2010, we were no closer to “Less Traffic!”
however loud we might shout.
The
government had passed the legislation, but re-defined ‘traffic reduction’ as
a reduction in the rate of growth. This had been factored into their
long-awaited Transport White Paper, which allowed for traffic growth of 25% by
2010 – or 37% when calculated on 1990 levels. As the RTRB’s own newsletter, TRAFFIC
REDUCTION, stated in April 1999: ‘We can now seize the opportunity.’
Sadly, this was to be the last ever issue: File 13. No MP was willing to
promote a third RTRB in Parliament, so the campaign was quietly dropped.
Traffic
reduction might seem a pretty civilized demand compared to later issues. Indeed,
the Government’s honeymoon period did not last forever. Slogans became a
little angrier in 2000, when Labour returned to Brighton for its Conference.
Many old-style socialist banners were carried along the seafront to the Brighton
Centre, where the rally massed on the pavement. The West Pier provided a
decaying yet mostly intact backdrop. Brighton was the chosen venue again in
2001, by which time George Bush was US President and the events of 9/11 had
occurred. Thus, the security crackdown began. With an almost symbolic resonance,
the West Pier burnt down.
As
the Iraq War dragged on, even that issue became a little passé. In 2004, the
Conference protest had a Fair Trade theme, with speakers from Oxfam and the
World Development Movement, in some ways returning to a more uplifting tone. In
2005, the G8 summit focused many pressure groups around Third World issues, with
white rubber wristbands to show support. These campaigns were overshadowed by
the glamour of Live-8 and, appallingly, the London Bombings.
Brighton
had known its own explosion in 1984, so the mood was subdued in September. That
year’s Labour Party Conference was devoid of any real protest, with just a few
token banners along the promenade railings. The seafront was prowled by
mystified photographers, wondering why no-one had bothered to come. At least the
Campaign Against Climate Change turned up with their favourite prop, an
inflatable globe in a greenhouse. This had to be eased over the vehicular
security barriers before it sat, a little forlorn, outside the Conference.
Some
years on, the economy had collapsed with the Credit Crunch, while the US gained
a new President - widely seen as a better hope, unlike Labour’s own boss. The
left had long wanted Gordon Brown to replace Tony Blair, but he soon became a
new target for protest and derision – as was hugely evident in 2009, when
socialist banners were out in force again.
And
thus dawned 2010 – the year so anticipated by the RTRB campaign, some fifteen
years before, as a time when we would enjoy ten percent less traffic than in
1990. If we cannot appreciate this achievement, at least it is worth reflecting
on a green future that never was.
I
imagined it once, from behind a gas mask.