• ON October 4 Camden Council emailed all borough parking permit holders alerting them to the healthy streets consultation.

Its central purpose is clear enough, but Camden seems unaware that the term “motor vehicle” includes both internal combustion powered and electric-powered vehicles, or indeed hybrids of the two. Plainly Camden doesn’t want to “discourage inessential use” of electric or hybrid electric vehicles.

Indeed, given the far higher carbon footprint incurred in the manufacture of those vehicles, it is essential to encourage their use, the less they are driven, the longer it takes to repay their huge CO2 manufacturing debt.

You will remember a 2021 comparison by Volvo of its electric and internal combustion engine XC40 model: the electric one had to be driven around 60,000 miles before it became carbon neutral, meaning owners would need to keep it for between four and nine years.

Then there is the 2021 Kyushu university study which found that environmentally it may be better to keep older cars for longer: “In the race to reduce car emissions, don’t forget longevity”.

Together with Camden Council’s continued but misconceived backing for the shared micromobility experiment, which in my view cannot be sustainable without very significant carbon offsetting by the providers, Camden’s transport decarbonisation policy looks about as sophisticated as “four wheels bad, two wheels good” (with apologies to George Orwell).

HAMISH BIRCHALL
Dartmouth Park Hill, NW5