UK: Thousands protest 15-minute cities driven by ‘climate change’

Two thousand demonstrators Saturday took to the streets in Oxford to protest 15-minute cities to reduce carbon emissions.

In what some are calling the first climate lockdown, the Oxfordshire County Council decided in November to divide the city of Oxford into “15-minute neighborhoods” by restricting Oxford residents from driving beyond their own community centers. 

The new system will involve six “traffic filters” — busy stretches of road that filter one neighborhood into another. From 7 AM to 7 PM seven days a week, private vehicles that are caught driving past their own neighborhoods for “non-essential needs” will be subject to a £70 fine. 

"It is about making sure you have the community centre which has all of those essential needs, the bottle of milk, pharmacy, GP, schools which you need to have a 15-minute neighbourhood,” said Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member Duncan Enright, according to Oxford Mail. 

Councillor Andrew Grant, responsible for the county’s highway management, said the decision was based at least in part on environmental concerns. 

“Currently, our roads are gridlocked with traffic, and this traffic is damaging our economy and our environment. Oxford needs a more sustainable, reliable and inclusive transport system for everyone. Traffic filters are an important tool to deliver a transport plan that works for all,” said Grant in a statement. 

Private drivers who wish to travel through the traffic filters may apply for a permit for up to 100 days a year, which averages out to about two days per week. In a household that has multiple vehicles, a maximum of three permits will be allowed. 

Five protesters were arrested during Saturday’s demonstration on Broad Street as residents who oppose the plan say the council is infringing on their rights and affecting local businesses, reports ITV.

Oxford is not the only city with plans to become a 15-minute city. Western Standard reported last week that Edmonton, Ontario is also pursuing becoming a 15-minute city. City officials plan to force residents to cut vehicle usage by 50% and use other modes of transportation instead .

"The city plan envisions a city of two million people where all Edmontonians of all ages, abilities and backgrounds can easily meet their daily needs within a short 15-minute walk, bike and/or roll," said Edmonton’s Mobility, Urban Planning and Economy Department General Supervisor Pablo Orozco.

"With this anticipated growth there will be an opportunity for Edmonton’s current mobility system to evolve from one predominantly focused on individual travel by car to one that facilitates a broader array of travel options. This includes moving towards the city plan goal of 50% of all trips being made by transit or active transportation, e.g. biking or walking."

The push to phase out private cars and make people dependent on state-owned public transportation is also part of the globalist effort to create what some are calling “green ghettos”.

An extensive report published last month and funded by globalist dark money groups is advocating for “reducing” private car ownership and relying more on public transportation.

The report explains that because electric vehicles (EVs) are built with lithium batteries, the current push to convert cars into EVs by globalists like Joe Biden — who has mandated that EVs constitute 50% of US cars by 2030 — will lead to a lithium shortage. When that happens, lithium will need to be mined, which will harm the environment.

By 2050, the report projects, the EV market will require triple the lithium currently used and will thus require significant mining.

Therefore, since the “solution” to “climate change” will, in fact, cause more climate change, according to the report, the authors suggest reducing car ownership, which it euphemistically refers to as “car dependency”. A reduction in car ownership will also “ensure transit equity” and “respect indigenous rights”.

In 2018 the World Economic Forum (WEF) praised cities who decided to ban cars from certain areas, hoping it would be a rallying call “for cities around the country to go car-free”.

The WEF has also thrown its considerable weight behind 15-minute cities, saying that “[a]s climate change and global conflict cause shocks and stresses at faster intervals and increasing severity, the 15-minute city will become even more critical.”

Fifteen-minute cities are only possible now because of COVID-19, which prepared society with lockdowns.

“But with COVID-19 and its variants keeping everyone home (or closer to home than usual), the 15-minute city went from a ‘nice-to-have’ to a rallying cry,” says the WEF on its website. “Meeting all of one’s needs within a walking, biking or transit distance was suddenly a matter of life and death. The pandemic created an urgency around equitable urbanism that sidelined arguments about bike lanes and other ‘amenities’ that have roiled communities for years.”

However, concerns that 15-minute cities will morph into “green ghettos” are mocked as “conspiracy theories” by mainstream media, echoing their reaction in 2020 to concerns that the government would mandate vaccines calling them “conspiracy theories” as well.