Portsmouth City Council's plans for a car-free peninsula

Portsmouth City Council has recently developed a plan for a new car-free community and housing development on a peninsula adjoining the city. The intention is to create a 140-acre site which could feature 4,000 homes and a school with cars parked underground to leave streets pedestrian-friendly with a bridge to provide access to the new peninsula which would only be used by buses and bicycles. There are a raft of benefits which the council see emerging from the scheme - a car-free and pedestrian-friendly environment; a change in the way people move around; the creation of a more visible community that seeks to end social isolation; much needed new homes; sustainable transport; and an employment area bringing new jobs.

All of this is laudable and it is easy to see the attraction of a single project which meets so many pressing needs. It is ambitious, large scale and expensive, with estimates of £1bn. Building in the sea is complicated enough and with the added requirement of raising the level of the peninsula and ensuring sea defences are adequate, this project is not for the faint-hearted.

Therein lies the real point of the story. There is a requirement to be brave, innovative and radical. We are currently faced with a series of problems which have global, national and local implications for every household and organisation and simply tinkering with the way we currently approach problems, will not produce a solution. This is a pioneering proposal from Portsmouth City Council and a reaction to local circumstances, not least a need to build 18,000 homes within restricted boundaries.

Not every local authority faces the challenges that Portsmouth have but each does has unique factors which need to be addressed. Portsmouth is not alone in being innovative – there are many looking at a whole range of new technologies, novel ideas and experimental projects at differing scales. However many local authorities are unwilling to embrace a manageable level of risk.

If we accept that existing approaches will not solve present problems, especially those falling under the generic sustainability umbrella, then accepting innovation and risk naturally follow and local authorities must make a contribution.