Councillor Euan Stainbank sets out the case
“Bringing people and the services they need closer together could hold the key to healthier and more environmentally friendly ways of life in our communities.
The 20-minute neighbourhood theory provides an urban planning framework that Falkirk Labour councillors want to see adopted by Falkirk Council letting us shape our towns and villages for a greener future. It is based on encouraging development of services nearer to where people live and work, promoting distinct and attractive communities and lowering emissions as people leave their car parked at home while they go to the places
Making the places we live safer and more accessible will let us access our communities on foot or bike. Rule changes such as the 2022 DVLA on pedestrian priority and the upcoming but frustratingly delayed Scottish Government implementation of 20mph speed limits in residential areas are being calibrated to serve this purpose. We need a collective approach and a framework to make sure people see walking and wheeling as a viable option in their day-to-day journeys.
Labour understands that services must noticeably improve for people to meet this ambition. Public transport is going to be an essential element letting us more efficiently use road space in the coming years, this means connections between our areas and between road and rail must be maintained and improved.
It is utterly crucial that in these next few years we develop a generation that has access to and grows accustomed to public transport as their default options before the car. This will lower congestion, lower noise and make a real dent in the substantial area-wide emissions that are generated by the private vehicle.
Reducing the need for but not ending the use of private vehicles is key here. The necessity for individual vehicles for accessibility remains, our taxi trade is highly valued by Falkirk Labour and will be better enabled by our vision. This is about incentivising specific choices to better serve everyone, not taking away the choices that people have.
One of our actions on substantially improving public transport was seen in a Labour motion to Falkirk Council requesting a report from officers detailing specific options for council consideration. These options included establishing publicly-owned bus services made possible through the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, regional partnership options, responsive transport for rural areas, coordination with services such as dial-a-journey and integrated transport options. Despite this plan initially garnering unanimous support from councillors it was later rejected by the votes of the SNP and Conservative groups.
Bespoke attractions such as the fantastic independent business community in the town centre, our district’s tourist attractions from Blackness Castle to the Falkirk Wheel and our well-placed proximity to the two largest cities in Scotland are not undermined by pursuing a strategy which seeks to bring things closer to where people live and work while looking to deliver the material change that will enable this. It will instead promote a more attractive area in which people can live and work, generate footfall in our town and village centres and build the access that will drive our tourist economy.
It is our belief that this will be substantially enabled by a Scottish Labour government in Holyrood finally investing in our area unlike the decades long SNP and Tory austerity programme we’re currently seeing inflicted on our communities.”