The London borough of Barnet manages about 600 miles of roads. In order to celebrate world car free day and signal their commitment to alternative forms of transport, they took the daring decision to close about 50 metres of that network, from nowhere in particular at one end of a non-descript residential road to nowhere in particular at the other. Their promotion efforts in the lead up to the event were evident in the number of stalls: one from a local evangelical church, one from a girl guide group, one from the London cycling campaign and ... er, that's it. As a result of their promotional strategy, when I visited, actual members of the public were probably outnumbered 2-1 by people in high viz or otherwise being paid or required to be there. We look forward to the press release declaring this a roaring success and a major contribution to Barnet's net zero efforts.

Report by Daniel