In the third of a series scrutinising Enfield Council’s progress on meeting climate targets, Vicki Pite of Enfield Climate Action Forum’s land use working group examines the borough’s recent record on transport

Five years on from declaring a ‘climate emergency’, Enfield Council’s transport record is not just disappointing, it’s disastrous.

Instead of cutting emissions, the borough has allowed them to rise. Instead of building a future based on walking, cycling and public transport, it is doubling down on cars.

We hope the proposal to introduce 20mph speed limits in three Enfield Town centres to “help tackle the climate emergency” will be endorsed enthusiastically by our elected community leaders.

Transport is Enfield’s biggest polluter, responsible for 39% of total emissions. In 2020, the council promised that by 2022, the majority of trips – 55% – would be made by sustainable modes, such as walking and cycling, and that by 2025 transport emissions would be cut by more than a third. These were achievable goals.

What happened instead? While other outer London boroughs increased their use of sustainable transport by around five percentage points, Enfield went backwards. Fewer journeys are made by walking, cycling or public transport (combined) than when the Climate Action Plan was first adopted, and annual traffic counts – miles travelled on roads in Enfield – have recently been amongst the highest recorded for 30 years.

The emissions picture is no better. The latest data suggests transport related emissions are increasing. A 36% cut by 2025 is now a fantasy.

There have been some small shifts, such as a slight drop in car ownership and more electric vehicles on the roads. But these changes are far too slow. Furthermore, Enfield’s draft Local Plan is unapologetically car-centric. Road widening schemes are being lined up to funnel thousands of additional cars across the borough, locking in additional traffic and pollution for years to come.

The borough is on track to miss its transport targets by a wide margin, yet serious scrutiny is almost absent. The council shows little appetite to acknowledge these failings and the challenges ahead, let alone plan for the large-scale offsetting measures that will almost certainly now be needed.

As we set out in earlier articles on heating and waste, Enfield Council has rightly described climate change as a “threat to life on earth” and declared a climate emergency. But the council is missing major targets across all three areas while failing to properly confront the scale of its shortfall or the urgent steps needed to get back on track.

Enfield residents deserve better. They deserve a council that treats the climate emergency as the emergency it is. Empty promises won’t drive down emissions. Only genuine and decisive action will.

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