Oxford Goes Communist.

It seems that the citizens of Oxford are going to be treated as criminals. Instead of being free, their movements will be restricted upon punishment by a fine.

In essence, Oxford council are setting up arbitrary zones in the city and you won't be allowed to drive a car from one to the other without a licence. Of course you have to pay for this licence (I know, yet another money-making scheme). 

You'll also only be allowed to move from one zone to another 100 times in a year otherwise you will attract a fine.

The idea comes from the "15 Minute City" concept. Basically everything you need will be available within 15 minutes of your door. Your job, your shop, your Doctor, Your Hospital, your health centre. All will be within 15 minutes.

But what is not stated is what choice you will have within those 15 minutes. For instance if the only store within 15 minutes is Tescos, what if you want to shop at Asda? Or they are too expensive and you want to shop at Lidl or Aldi. Is one of every shop going to be provided in that 15 minute zone so you have the same amount of choice?

I think not. So in effect you will have no choice. You will be allowed to shop at one shop that is assigned by planning to that area. If you deign to reject that choice, then comrade, you are not complying and you will be fined for travelling to the next zone. 

It's Communism. It is removal of choice.

How are jobs supposed to be provided in the 15 minute zone? 

As an example, you work for a company that has one outlet on the other side of town, or in the next town over. It is not served by a bus route. 

How on earth do you get there without a car? If the council impose their rules and you are effectively denied access to your job, will the council compensate you? Are they liable to compensate you for the loss of your job? I bet not. You'll just have to comply by taking some low-paid job in the 15-minute zone. If you can't pay your rent because you've had to take a low-paid job, will the council compensate you or re-house you? I expect huge Communist concrete tower blocks will be the architecture of choice in Oxford over the next few decades then. 

Or the city will become a ghost city where no-one wants to live. It will be a student city where students educate themselves and in their spare time do the jobs that the original population once did.

I know for a fact there is a care home in a village on the outskirts of Oxford that is served by a bus only two days a week. The wife was looking for care work in the area when I lived near Oxford. Not being a driver, she needed public transport. So that wasn't an option. 

Basically, to make this work, the council is going to have to provide the jobs, the infrastructure the facilities. Market forces won't. Aldi won't want to have 15 tiny branches dotted around the city. They won't be economical.  Nor will they want several competitors in the same 15 minute area. 

Like I say, it will reduce freedom, it will reduce choice. Oxfordians might as well buy the grey boiler suits now ready for the May day parade of bicycles (no combustion engines allowed).