I was stuck in traffic in Gibraltar the other day. It was not frontier related, I was just driving back from a client meeting. Whilst pondering how Gibraltar could relieve its traffic problem, I listened to the local news on the radio.

The news commented on how Gibraltar’s air quality had featured poorly in a recent report by the World Health Organisation who had published the 10 worst cities in the UK for air pollution. Gibraltar was the worst of the worst.

The data was taken from 2008 to 2013. I drove a diesel car in 2013 so I contributed to that, possibly, probably.

That short journey, which took ages, inspired this article.

Vehicle ownership

Vehicle ownership in Gibraltar is on the increase according to this chart from the Department of Transport in Gibraltar.

The 30,009 registered vehicles in 2014 comprised:

Passenger vehicles 16,861

Commercial vehicles 2,131

Mopeds / motorbikes 11,017

That equates to just under one vehicle per member of the population. Or, ignoring the 7,000 or so too young to drive, 1.15 vehicles per adult (whether they drive or not). Unsurprisingly this is well above the EU average although it must be noted how many motorcycles make up the total.

Parking spaces

As more residential property developments are built, more parking spaces are provided and more vehicles will be registered. There is nothing happening in Gibraltar as far as I know to suggest that vehicle ownership will decrease. So there will be even more cars on the road next year and more the year after. Yet, the capacity of our road network (other than the frontier tunnel) cannot be materially increased.

Which means our road system will be ever more clogged up with vehicles and our air ever more clogged up with suspect particles from emissions.

Planning policy in Gibraltar, to the best of my knowledge, is to ensure a parking space is created for every new residential dwelling built (some exemptions in the Upper Town where it is impossible). More parking spaces, more vehicles. But is that true? Does one lead to the other?

In a 68 page report entitled “Residential Parking Provision in New Developments” published by Transport for London in 2012 there were four key findings. One of those findings stated “The more parking provided by a new development, the higher the household car ownership level. Where there is more parking, there are more cars. This was true for all groups and in all areas studied.”

So yes it is true (in London). If you supply the parking spaces, the parking spaces will be filled with cars. If there are 1,000 homes under construction in Gibraltar currently with 1,000 parking spaces provided, then expect another 1,000 additional vehicles. Possibly not the most scientific of extrapolations, but probably not too far off either.

Another of the four key findings was “Developments with more parking produce more car travel. People who own cars use them.” Whilst another conclusion was “The more parking provided by a new development, the more attractive it becomes to car owning households: people choose housing that meets their needs.”

Not only does the supply of parking spaces in new developments encourage car ownership, they come at a cost to society one way or another. Developers have to build the space which has a land cost and a build cost. A space is typically costed within the sales price of a property at around £25,000. This increases the price of a residential unit reducing housing affordability. Many occupants do not own a car and do not want this expense. It’s akin to a regressive tax on the lower paid and the space could be used for open amenity space benefitting us all.

Emissions

The way people travel significantly impacts on people’s health, well-being and quality of life. Vehicle traffic contributes to carbon emissions and pollution.

Sadiq Khan was recently elected as Mayor of London. Virtually his first major announcement was his intention to both extend the area of, and bringing forward the introduction of, the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) which is due to come into force in September 2020.

The ULEZ is currently intended to cover the same area of central London as the Congestion Charge Zone. The ULEZ will apply to cars and motorcycles as well as to all vans, heavy goods vehicles, minibuses, buses and coaches. Unlike the London Congestion Charge which only applies between 7am and 6pm, Monday to Friday excluding public and bank holidays, the current London LEZ operates 24 hours a day and on every day of the year including weekends and public holidays. A charge is incurred for any vehicle entering the LEZ which does not meet the emission standards.

“I have been elected with a clear mandate to clean up London’s air - our biggest environmental challenge,” Khan said “but I want to act before an emergency, which is why we need big, bold and sometimes difficult policies if London is to match the scale of the challenge.” So Kahn intends to bring forward the start date of the ULEZ to 2019 from 2020 and extend the zone from central London to the area between the south circular and north circular roads. The idea is to price out ‘dirty’ vehicles to benefit the residential population.

A big, bold, difficult decision indeed.

Friends of the Earth (UK) air pollution campaigner Jenny Bates said after the World Health Organisation report was released: “This is a public health crisis. We need fewer and cleaner vehicles with a Clean Air Zone in every city and large town – and politicians must urgently introduce a diesel scrappage scheme to get the worst polluting vehicles off our roads, as well as more investment in alternatives to driving.”

Therefore, I believe that to ensure that a car journey in Gibraltar does not take any longer in two years’ time than it does now, and that the air we breathe is better in the future than in the past, we should firstly slow the rise in car ownership, then perhaps reduce it pro rata per population. This means moving to the introduction of some ‘car free developments’, and / or an annual vehicle tax on the ‘dirtier’ vehicles whilst continually improving public transport. The bi-product of lower vehicle ownership (especially high carbon emission cars) will be fewer car jams and cleaner air.

What is a car free development?

Car free developments are those that do not have facilities for the parking of vehicles. In the case of residential developments that are in a controlled parking zone, this usually involves preventing the residents from obtaining on-street parking permits, in addition to no off-street parking being provided (apart from disabled bays). Car free developments are suitable if located near to local amenities and a good local public transport network.

Car capped developments are similar but limit parking spaces usually for visitors, contractors and car clubs (an increasing feature in the UK but not part of this article). In Gibraltar we could also consider including moped and motorbike spaces in capped developments.

One could review any local planning policy in the UK but I chose the London Borough of Hackney as it is built up with hardly any land left for building, is generally at the more radical and forward thinking end of the political spectrum and it only has one tube station (relying on trains and buses for local transport). Its “Sustainable Transport - Draft Supplementary Planning Document” published in Summer 2014”, set out the car free policy: “In common with other London boroughs, Hackney has set maximum car parking standards with the intention of limiting parking in all new developments to a minimum.”

Note they adopt a maximum number of spaces not a minimum which is the general policy in Gibraltar.

Hackney’s argument is that “Car free developments support a number of objectives of the Transport Strategy given that they have a role to play in improving the attractiveness of the local area for walking and cycling, help create more ‘people oriented’ environments and can reduce local air pollution and noise levels.”

The London Plan supports car free development. Policy 6.13 (b) states: “in locations with high public transport accessibility, car-free developments should be promoted (while still providing for disabled people).”

The London Borough of Camden’s “Local Plan Evidence Report Car-free development February 2016” is a good read as well. It is readily found on the internet. The opening line of the executive summary states: “Camden has particular issues with poor air quality, traffic congestion and parking stress.” That could sum up Gibraltar. The second sentence gives a solution. “Car free development can offer significant benefits by reducing traffic congestion and parking stress, improving air quality and creating opportunities to build safer and more welcoming environments that increase the likelihood of people making healthier and more sustainable transport choices.”

So the trend should move away from cars to public transport, which is not necessarily easy in Gibraltar.

Public transport

The fourth key finding in the Transport for London report mentioned above was “There is a strong relationship between public transport accessibility and household car ownership – as public transport accessibility increases, car ownership in new developments falls.” Perhaps obvious, definitely true.

Trams, monorail, electric buses, car clubs and an improved taxi service can all play their part. I will look at these alternatives in a future article.

Annual car tax

In Gibraltar, annual car tax is zero. Zero for small low emission cars, zero for high emission diesel 4x4’s. We all enjoy not having to pay a car tax. However, is this position sustainable if we want to stem the rise in car ownership and promote cleaner transport?

Virtually all EU countries impose a carbon emission based annual tax on vehicle ownership. These taxes have forced the car industry to move to less polluting technology and have encouraged car buyers to choose low emission cars, or no car at all.

As Sadiq Khan said, big, bold, difficult decisions are needed.

Conclusion

Stemming the rise in vehicle ownership is a key determinant in reducing the number of vehicles on Gibraltar’s road network and a key ingredient in cleaner air. Fewer parking spaces, a car tax and continuing investment into public transport can assist stemming the rise in vehicle ownership.

Without such solutions, both our roads and our lungs will remain, all clogged up.