Lane Cove Council’s climate friendly Car Free Sunday event delivers mixed results

Motorists have largely ignored the call to leave their wheels at home as part of a council ‘Car Free Day’ event – with one critic labelling it a day for ‘inner city greenies’ to get together for a ‘kumbaya’.

A photo of the car free event.

A council’s ‘Car Free Sunday’ event has delivered mixed results with many motorists ignoring the call to leave their wheels at home for the climate conscious initiative.

Residents in the entire Lane Cove Council region were encouraged to walk or use bikes to get around on Sunday as part of a much-touted car-free event aimed at promoting a clean environment.

Organisers of the event insist the initiative was a success, saying many residents of the 11sq km council area heeded the call and left their cars at home.

But countless others didn’t, with heavy congestion seen on local roads including River Rd, Centennial Ave and Mowbray Rd.

The car-free event was supported by a majority of local councillors and involved the council closing off key roads in the town centre including sections of Longueville Rd and Burns Bay Rd.

The Lane Cove carpark was filled with cars during the day.

The Lane Cove Sustainable Action Group – which supported the event – also set up a dedicated stall in the town centre on Sunday to survey residents about their thoughts of the car-free initiative.

Group member Sjirk Bangma said the event was met with a “positive” reaction – despite many residents being unaware the event had been scheduled.

A stall set up by the action group on Sunday.

Sjirk Bangma.

“Unfortunately, council didn’t really promote it until the last couple of weeks so a lot of people didn’t know it was taking place,” he said.

“We also had one person who was very vocal and said the idea was ‘bull----’ and a waste of time.

“But the majority of people we spoke to in the town centre were positive about the event, particularly families who said it was great for their kids to be able to cycle on roads.

“A lot of people did leave their cars at home, and even for one day it was good for the environment to have less noise, less smells and fewer emissions from our roads.”

Road closures were in force during the event.

The car free event coincided with Lane Cove’s annual Big Family Fun Ride which promoted cycling in the local government area.

Lane Cove Liberal councillor Scott Bennison – a critic of the car free event – said the road closures had caused major traffic congestion on surrounding roads.

Mr Bennison said the car-free day was also not feasible for many people with disabilities, older residents and families attending Sunday sport events.

“It was just an inner city greenie thing and didn’t do anything to help change the temperature of the planet.” he said.

“It inconvenienced a lot of people and because of the road closures, all it did was create more traffic congestion on other roads and added an element of risk for pedestrians.

A photo of Longueville Rd, which was seen largely car free during Sunday.

“I don’t think it achieved anything except maybe giving the greenies a chance to get together for a kumbaya.”

Lane Cove Council, in a statement, said the day was aimed at reduced air pollution and promoting walking.

“Council considers the event held on Sunday a success (and) feedback on the day was largely positive,” a council spokeswoman said.

“Council will be reviewing the event in more detail to consider if we repeat the event in this same format in future years or take a different approach.

“Residents were still able to access the village and the village parking stations, but the main pedestrian areas were free of cars, allowing families to walk, cycle or simply enjoy the cafes and shops without cars passing by.”

Mr Bangma hopes Sunday’s event will be the first step towards a permanent car free day in Lane Cove.

“We would love to see large-scale promotion and for people to really think about our relationship with cars as not being the only way to get around,” he said.

“In Europe 100 million people take part in Car Free events and they learn to discover their streets and neighbours.

“In future maybe residents could take a pledge to leave their car in the driveway and to actively plan other ways of getting around.”

Results from a survey conducted by the Lane Cove Sustainability Action Group on Sunday showed 49 of 57 respondents supported the event.