Townsplaining: why is Britain so bad at this?

[@davidowen2396]

I live in Deganwy, over the "cob" from Conwy (Deganwy, along with Llandudno Junction are under the jurisdiction/are wards of Conwy Town Council though there isn't a strong civic "ownership" of the town itself in my opinion). The trains to Conwy may be every 2 hours and not enough is made of promoting the much busier and larger station of Llandudno Junction 0.5 miles away (with a service every 20 mins or so to various destinations, including London) as a "gateway" station. Welsh Government are introducing the North Wales Metro (to mirror that which has just opened in South Wales) but this lacks ambition. I wrote to my AM to suggest shuttle trains/trams running from Llandudno Junction to Llandudno to improve frequency, movement etc and had a response which suggested a miry of red tape. People are conservative in their outlook when it comes to town planning here (new homes continue to consist only of executive detached homes with integral garages). The new, costly cycle lanes are "shared" spaces with pedestrians rather than separated. This means cycling is only regarded as a "leisurely" pursuit rather than a tangible means of travel (most cyclists stay on the road and are then jeered at by car drivers), there are literally no cycle racks strategically placed in town centres either, . Local politicians tend to collude with a "suburban" rather than an "urban" approach to solutions. The flats you refer to in the brutalist old library building are for holiday accommodation (if built)...there is no commitment to old Conwy being a tangible residential place...most of the terraced collages are holiday lets as there are no parking solutions considered for longer term residence...which is reflected in the feel of the town...you will see some houses can take months to sell as the parking issues are not addressed, As you say, the traffic system....which is one-way...lends a noisy, grubby air to the place which stops you lingering leisurely. The Palace Theatre should be a jewel for Conwy...we badly need an arts cinema offer in the area (I travel to Liverpool for that!). There is no cinema in Llandudno now whereas there used to be many. The Cineworld in Llandudno Junction promotes car use and those visiting Llandudno are unaware of it's existence.....I could go on for hours...

[@julesdingle]

thank you so much for such in depth insight. Yes Welsh govt and local govt seem so unambitious especially when it comes to transport. and how Conwy doesn't have an arts centre !

[@bujin1977]

@@julesdingle There are many reasons that we can't just do the same as the Netherlands. Sure, the Welsh government have to be more ambitious, but they only have a limited amount of funds allocated to them by Westminster each year, and the UK in general (especially over the last 15 years) has become very hostile towards the idea of taxation. One reason the Conservatives have been so successful is their promise of low taxation (which, of course, hasn't been at all successful recently), because the public love the idea of paying less to the government and seeing more money in their pockets each month. But lower taxes mean a lot less money available across the board, including for town planning. The Netherlands doesn't have that problem. Their tax rates are a lot higher than they are here, but that results in FAR better quality of service than we get. Their transport infrastructure is decades ahead of us. I spent a few days in Holland last year and we probably drove around 200 miles. In all that time, I saw maybe two potholes and one bit of road that was not level. And I guarantee that those things would have been fixed within a few days. In the UK these days, you can't go 200 metres down the road without seeing dozens of potholes, because no one seems to want to pay to have them fixed anymore. Another visit to the Netherlands last month I made use of their trains to get from Amsterdam to Eindhoven and it was an extremely simple experience. It cost me about 23 euros (IIRC), the trains were on time, clean and as the trains were double-decked, there was plenty of seating available. Here, the trains are unreliable, often overcrowded and ludicrously expensive. Personally, I would be very happy to pay a bit more in tax so that we can get better services in return.

[@juliansadler6263]

​@@bujin1977Train travel is not 'ludicrously expensive'. The headline peak fares are but few people pay those.

[@lawrencejob]

Weird how today it’s the conservative view to want cars - historically (before cars) it required radical modernisation to equip towns and change planning criteria to suit car-centric design

[@grywilliams8976]

The man is talking twaddle. I'd be happy to get rid of the car parks and have a park and ride when it's pedestrianised, but where would you put that!! It will also be fun to watch what happens to the local villages when the A55 is closed, which seems to be a regular occurrence this year!!

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

Britain is very centralised. Local government is kept poor and relatively powerless. In consequence high cost schemes can only be paid for by prvite developers and it takes only a small minority to prevent low cost schemes.

[@lighting7508]

Hopefully starmer’s plans for devolution aren’t just hot air. What I want is Westminster to set housing targets and give local councils inescapable deadlines to come up with a plan. But I think local government should have a say on where houses are, what they look like, what infrastructure they need etc. TLDR The system needs to both give local government freedom and not let NIMBYS endlessly hold the country at gunpoint

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

@@lighting7508 couldn't agree more.

[@BNHC0]

@@lighting7508 Hopefully new new housing bill will seek to regenerate dying town centres rather than extend suburbia, when you tack new housing to the periphery of existing towns you end up with more cars, people are further away from schools and work so you end up with more journeys made and more traffic. Focusing housing around existing services and transport cheaper and more efficient, there are plenty of holes and gaps in many towns and you could build thousands of homes right next to rail stations which would make working 2/3 towns over very easy and would also bring many of these places back to life

[@sulphuric_glue4468]

@@BNHC0 Suburbs aren't inherently car-dependent, just the way we currently do them is in 90% of cases. Suburbs just need better public transport links, in some cases the links are already there but no longer connected because of train stations being shut down. There's a rail line that runs right through where I live, but trains no longer stop here. Labour has talked big about public transport and specifically rail before, it's time for them to back it up with action.

[@humushumus2219]

It's Neoliberalism. Britain with the degenerate Tatcher was early out with this ideology. Today it's destroying everything in the West.

[@frankwitte1022]

I am Dutch, live in the UK, and have visited Conwy. I share the sense of so many unused opportunities that a town like Conwy would have if only there was more thoughtful urban planning going on. When visiting Conwy, I very much enjoyed the castle and walking through town felt as if it was entirely separate from it. And yes ... the way cars dominate the town adds to that very much. The town that I always kept comparing it to was Carcassonne in southern France. Carcassonne does very much right of what Conwy doesn't seem to do at all. I was surprised how the spirit of the Langue d' Oc is palpably alive everywhere in Carcassonne, while Conwy seems to struggle being Welsh. I enjoyed my visit, we had a lovely lunch there as well, and I hope the town gets a chance to be what it could be.

[@julesdingle]

Thanks for your comment- I visited Carcassonne and surprised that vehicles are allowed but it seems for workers and deliveries, unlike Conwy Carcassonne has been rebuilt over the years... more a well preserved fantasy. Conwy's issues are mainly because it has always been a gateway- a through route for traffic, quaint when it was horse drawn.. not so much now.

[@akuper7297]

@@julesdingle thanks for a really interesting video. However one factor that I think is missing is the economic variance between UK Regions. North Wales is under developed all round and the demand for the kind of retail units you suggest just isn’t there, for instance, unlike Dubrovnik. Carcassonne is a bit different it has a much larger modern town outside the (rather Disneyfied) old city. The modern town I remember as being full of traffic. Your general point about lack of investment is very true though, I’d just add there’s a strong regional element. On an aesthetic note, that Dutch town was maybe too quiet? It seemed a bit Stepford Wives to me 😅

[@julesdingle]

@@akuper7297 N.Wales is similar to Cornwall/S Devon in that there are run down areas with little investment like Brixham but the propter prices are sky high- in Conwy a 2 bed cottage in the walled town in £270k So plenty of outside buyers pushing up housing and rent prices with thee areas dependent on tourism for employment There is plenty of money in N Wales- it's just not being spent on amenities

[@ypey1]

The best part about uk smalltowns now are the trainstations imo, while the towns themself have so much more unused potential

[@rmyikzelf5604]

​@@julesdingle that is a choice.

[@kowetas]

I think everyone in the UK should visit a small or medium sized Dutch town to see how peaceful and pleasant they are. Our town planning is poor and car centric, and I don't think blanket initiatives like Wales's 20mph speed reduction actually do anything - you need to encourage drivers to avoid areas with high pedestrian footfall (or where you want there to be) and make the walkable space much more inviting.

[@JohnSmith-pd1fz]

++kowetas++ Rubbish! Everyone in the UK should ignore advice such as yours and be very pleased to know that most of our hamlets, villages, towns and cities are probably 800 or more years old and still function perfectly. Perhaps you'd be better off living somewhere else, perhaps a midwest town in the USA if you want wide open spaces and "town planning" to help you get about.

[@koenven7012]

you also need to make sure there are alternatives to driving, like public transport and bicycle infrastructure. I've never been to Naarden, but I know most Dutch towns and cities have very good bicycle infrastructure, so most local people needing to go into the old town will most likely do so by bike, reducing the car traffic to those who really need one for some reason.

[@lkruijsw]

Note, that Naarden is only one example in the Neterlands. We have many of those old villages. Traffic is diverted around. Woudrichem, Heusden, Linschoten, Kampen, Sloten, just to name a few.

[@grywilliams8976]

The Nederland's is mainly flat, Wales has lots of mountains and hill so diverting is not easy.👍

[@van0tot100]

When there is a will, there is a meow

[@TheDutchMitchell]

​@@grywilliams8976 these fortified towns in the example are always around rivers and canals. Building on flat land is easier yes, but it's never unrestricted.

[@victorsamsung2921]

Gorinchem, Bronckhorst, Hasselt, Doesburg, Zutphen etc. come to mind too.

[@markuserikssen]

@@grywilliams8976 The Netherlands has a lot of water, swamps and densely populated areas everywhere, so there are also a lot of obstacles here. Still, we manage to make it work.

[@a-sane-person]

As an American visiting the UK, I can say that Britain is still leagues ahead of the USA in terms of townsplanning.

[@LeA1ex]

yep!

[@AlbertZonneveld]

The US is all about CAR planning. Then build a town around the junctions

[@NickAskew]

Interesting video and kind of coincidentally relevant to me. I grew up on Anglesey and went to school in Colwyn bay. So frequently went through Conwy. I remember the bypass being built and hardly ever went to Conwy again. Eventually my wife and I emigrated to the Netherlands and we've noticed the focus on people rather than traffic. Here cycling into town is the logical option and getting into the car is really not usually the best option.

[@gargoyle7863]

Yeah the old apprehension that shoppers have to park on street in front of the shop impeded a bypass in my town back in the 80s. Now we are a unattractive "drive through town" with one shop dying after another. (And of course, no free space or money is left to catch up the construction of a bypass to release residents from noise and pollution.)

[@neilelkins2009]

The car parked in front of the shop usually belongs to the shopkeeper, I've noticed. There's a snack place near me that relies on passing tradespeople, the owner's big old Jag always has pride of place out the front.

[@chimsuaumo]

When Chichester had a bypass built, it almost killed the city centre as they were reliant on trade passing through. But they easily saved it by pedestrianizing the bulk of the centre and making it attractive for locals and visitors alike.

[@mdhazeldine]

Never been to Naarden, but I did just come back from Holland and visited Delft. I have also been to Conwy twice. Conwy and Caernarfon were two of my favourite towns in Wales, but you are right in that it could be so much better. Delft was lovely, and we cycled for a day in Utrecht and it was so easy and quite liberating. I really hope we can learn some lessons from the Dutch, but it will take quite a large culture and political shift before that happens. We still love our cars too much in this country and don't realise there can be better ways to do things if we can be humble enough to look across the Channel.

[@QueenLucita]

I am from both countries featured in this video (UK/Netherlands), living in the Netherlands. It always surprised me how lacking infrastructure was in Britain and other examples such as in Conwy. Having been to the UK recently I often found myself comparing it to what exists in America rather than the Netherlands like in Naarden (which I have visited multiple times) and various other examples across the EU, most notably with infrastructure like shopping centres and bridges, but also sharing similarities at the same time. I always saw infrastructure there to be mostly similar to what we have here in NL, but I was very surprised to see that that is not the case at all. Very interesting to see. Lovely video! Hello from the other side of the North Sea!

[@Isdezenaambezet]

Very true, my partner is British and everything over there is slightly off. Public services are all a bit run down and city planning is rather half assed. Driving in British cities is also a complete disaster compared to NL. It can take 45 minutes to leave a city of 250k by car, even outside of rush hour.

[@QueenLucita]

@@Isdezenaambezet Ja dat klopt inderdaad. Britain is really lacking when it comes to infrastructure. Architecture also plays a role, I was in the Tyneside in July and all I saw was just run down houses and badly paved roads. Here in the Netherlands I never have that unless I specifically want to search for it.

[@PhatChic]

Conwy is such a pretty town and the traffic is intrusive. I am interested to see what local people think

[@Anarky4644]

As one if the tunnel is closed its hell but overall not bad

[@stephenprice9435]

I grew up near there and routinely visit. The whole Conwy valley area is steadily getting better with active travel routes opening to link into Llandudno (another terrible car jam hotspot). Unfortunately the pedestrianised areas in north Wales have all failed and set a poor precedent for dissuading vehicles. There were major concerns about the Colwyn Bay promenade upgrades which introduced a one way system. We still have a way to go societally.

[@thwalesproductions]

Traffic here isn't as bad as it seems

[@PhatChic]

@@Anarky4644glad to hear it. I do like the tunnel

[@PhatChic]

@@stephenprice9435I am in Shrewsbury and the one way and town centre closure on a weekend make it a mare

[@pjotrtje0NL]

It’s weirdly exhilarating when your little home town is a subject in a non-Dutch video. Thanks!

[@stephenprice9435]

I feel the same! A great watch.

[@Dafoodmaster]

Your voice is superb. Felt almost as if i was watching BBC. Conwy seems beautiful despite it's car-centric woes. Would love to visit. Hello from the Netherlands!

[@transponderings]

An interesting comparison. I have enjoyed the relative quiet of a few Dutch towns (though I haven’t been to Naarden), and really envy their approach to accessibility/mobility. I also stayed in Conwy Youth Hostel a decade or so ago (arriving by that infrequent train service). I thought the town was charming, but I was very aware of the road traffic, and this video makes the contrast between the two approaches very clear.

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

Great video. I'm Dutch. I could be wrong. But when I visit Britain it feels as if it's a bit stuck in it's ways. There are still these huge sea -resort-towns build during the industrial revolution that are mostly empty. A town like Comwy, with a castle, walls ,etc could be almost as famous as Dubrovnik, if it spend some money on making it's centre car free ad some greenery ,outdoor spaces ,etc. it could be a great tourist destination.

[@iamjoestafford]

You are so right - Britain is extremely stuck in its ways, especially in towns and smaller cities. It's a combination of our peculiar method of governance, a total dearth of power and money at the local level, an island mentality which refuses to learn from what other countries do better than us and an American-style obsession with personal 'freedom' (ie the freedom to drive a car everywhere). Our road system hasn't changed in most places since the 60s/70s, and if any councils try to change things, people protest and many of the changes are reversed. The first time I visited your wonderful country, I was blown away by how nice the towns and city centres are to spend time in - and the quietness created by the lack of through traffic was a revelation. It is really depressing every time I come home - it's like travelling back in time by fifty years!

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

@@iamjoestafford Yes it's such a shame. Britain is such a unique part of Europe. I'm in my 50thies and have seen the Netherlands change .When I was a teenager, it was going the way Britain /U.S is going right now . Crumbling infrastructure. Cars everywhere . I couldn't wait to leave and live somewhere else. When I returned the Netherlands some 17 years ago, it had changed so much in a positive way, I decided to stay . Anyway I always liked visiting distant family in England. But these last 15/20 (?) years it seems as if the country in decline. I can imagine when all the people in government, business, etc live in London , they just don't care enough about about fixing up all the other places .(besides the Cotswolds and such ,where they have a second home ;) London almost feels like a city state within a country. One that gets a lots of funding while the rest has to divide the scraps. This is just my opinion by the way. Good luck, and let's hope things will change for the better.

[@darrenmurray861]

Conwy looks like a beautiful historic town; how have I never heard of it until today?

[@stephenprice9435]

I recommend visiting the castle, the Albion pub, walk up Conwy Mountain and also visit Llandudno for the day. If you are able, walk around the Great Orme for the seals and fantastic scenery.

[@klapsigaarenbasgitaar1931]

Neither did I, but it doesn't surprise me. My holiday tip for everyone: try not to go for big names all the time. Just choose some area and see what there is. Most of the times I'm amazed. So if you go to Italy for example, don't go to Tuscany for the 3rd time but choose an area that sounds unfamiliar and you will find amazing things and wonder the same thing: why had I never heard of this and why am I the only one here? In stead of Carcassonne go to Langres, in stead of Siena go to Urbino, in stead of Munich go to Regensburg. In stead of Krakow go to Wroclaw. Etc.

[@annepoitrineau5650]

St Malo in France is wonderful. No cars except residents inside the city walls. It is vibrant, beautiful etc etc....and the mayor has banned R B&B

[@nas4apps]

Love St Malo (from The Netherlands ... Naarden). Stayed in Dinard to visit it ... rented an appartment there, a modern 'modain' town - nice to, very nice AND a total contrast to St. Malo. I recall the food .....Ah! You win .... ;) (love that seafood with the chilled white wine while tasting salty air - in the summer sun overlooking some watwerway - dream away. Well: Same fish at Conwy!! Go culinary, set it up - wish all the town's residents and businesses a wonderful future - you have a gem with tons of potential to outgrow many! Why would that not be a conservative call, or a liberal call, or a labour call - just a town-people's call! Get together and get it done - I will visit!

[@jimreilly6933]

I dated a young girl who attended Portsmouth Art College with me back in 1975 to 79. She sent me a large colored picture of Narden Festings during the easter holidays. She lived their with her Mother who was Dutch and worked at the Phillips corporation. Her name was Susan Bowmaister.

[@imladris9550]

It's great seeing somewhere in Wales being used to talk about urban planning...even if it is as a bad example 😅 I live in Glan Conwy on the other side of the estuary and I love Conwy but hate the cars. I live close enough to cycle but the existing cycle paths are patchy and are all shared surfaces. If we visit for a day by car we do try to park outside the walls but do park inside for a quick visit. I talked to a MP for Shotton a few days ago and he was skeptical of the pedestrianisation of the high street in Holywell. He felt that local business suffered without on street parking and that pedestrianisation only works in cities. The high street in Conwy has such a narrow pavement that there is no room for pedestrians to pass. We definitely need to learn from the continental brethren. There are rumours of a cycle path down the Conwy valley and perhaps a bridge across from Glan Conwy to the RSPB nature reserve which would create a short cut to Conwy but I haven't seen any definitive plan yet so I'll believe it when I see it.

[@julesdingle]

Yes, local government is under funded, yes there is the car culture particular among retail.. but what saddens me is the lack of ambition in politics

[@imladris9550]

Yeah, we should be trying to improve our communities not just maintain them

[@thomasohare8552]

The "suffered without on street parking" thing is a big argument made. If you have 2 parking spots outside each business and everyone parks for about an hour in total you're only going to get *16 visitors* in an 8 hour working day. Even if you park for 15 minutes instead you're only getting 64 people in your shop/restaurant who can access it easily every day. That's just not enough to justify a business to be open unless it's luxury goods. Businesses need many many more people to be able to get to their shop easier than that. A single bus stop could deposit that many people with a single bus, an off-site parking garage within walking distance could quadruple the hourly footfall without reducing car ownership. Unfortunately the same MPs who say these things are also the people who would like the convenience of parking outside a shop and not walking anywhere. All they need is to think with their money brains instead of their lazy brains (speak their language and they might understand).

[@aljowen]

​​​@@thomasohare8552 64 customers is **huge** for a small buisness. I work for a national chain supermarket in one of our smaller sites. An average spend in a small local food shop can often be around £20, it varies a lot depending on who is served by the shop, but for the sake of argument we could say that is £1280 in sales. For many local mam & pap corner shops I suspect that would be about 50% of their daily sales totals. In other words, a direct loss of 64 customers would end most local shops. Now ofc there are arguments to be made that removing the parking could lead to increased tourism and therefore better sales. These may well be true for a town like Conway, and I think they would make it a much nicer area. I also don't think removing those two parking spots would lead to a loss of 64 customers either, the real world results would be a lot more complex. I would hope positive overall from the area becoming a destination for shoppers. But I can also understand why local buisnesses are so apprehensive about it. It's a change that has the potential to do a lot of good, but also the potential to close a local buisness if things don't go as hoped.

[@julesdingle]

If I was supreme mayor of Conwy I would get rid of kerbs and have cobbled streets [with the 20mph limit] , increase the amount of street parking on Castle street but also encourage cafes/ shops to use more of the street for retail, I would get rid of all but resident/delivery parking for the High St, initially turn the car park into a regular market spot and look to get rid of spaces in the future, seek alternative uses for the Station car park Make the out of town parking free and bring the Cinema and Civic Hall into public use Vote for me as supreme mayor ;-)

[@dananskidolf]

I felt immediately more comfortable when you switched to Naarden and knew it was the quiet that did it. Sadly if you look at a map of UK road noise, it's very hard to find a place where you don't have to put up with it in your daily life. We seem to have plastered the whole country with roads and many go right through residential and commercial areas.

[@washellwash1802]

I love how towncentres thrived for centuries but now it's supposedly instant death if cars are restricted or banned

[@johnhammond5379]

Thanks for this revealing short. In essence, motor cars are a menace. Yet motorists insist that towns provide essentially for them and to hell with public transport and pedestrians. Towns are for people, not for motor cars.

[@johnhammond5379]

Fact is, we have become too bloody lazy!

[@PhatChic]

@@johnhammond5379as someone who struggles with walking at times if even I could have walked the short distance across the bridge to get to the town and would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t looking out for vehicles

[@lemsip207]

I hate the destruction of towns and cities from the 60s with multi-storey car parks and ring roads.

[@Isdezenaambezet]

Noticed the same thing in Warwick, it's so busy in a historic town center that should be carless. That kind of traffic would be kept well away in the Netherlands to promote a pedestrianised center.

[@hendrixinfinity3992]

I visited Conwy on my way back from a bike tour. Spent an hour there. It was lovely but just like you said it was beset by traffic. The same can be said for all the major valleys through Snowdonia, Exmoor, Dartmoor, the Beacons, Peaks, Dales, Moors, and Lakes. My question is what it all is for? These are tiny towns on the edge of the sea. They can be served well by extant train stations if the services were invested in, and goods can get to Holyhead by the same method. I don't think there's that many people outside of Lorry drivers who need to get to Holyhead, and you could replace hundreds of lorries with one goods train to a central depot in Chester. You can then downgrade all these roads to B roads and start restoring the man-made and natural beauty of these locations. We don't need to supply that many visitors to national parks in order to keep the local economies functional, we need to create jobs outside of tourism so young people go and live there. I would love to live in Conwy or Llanberis or Bala or somewhere similar but there's nothing for me there apart from retail, bars and council work. Then again, you don't need to look far from Conwy to see what really terrible urban planning looks like, go over to Llandudno Junction for an entirely different vibe.

[@rogerwilco2]

Good point. I live in the city of Groningen, which has been limiting cars in the historic city since 1975. It is one of the best places to live in and has one of the most vibrant shopping and entertainment in the mostly pedestrian centre of any city I know. I wish many more towns and cities would follow our example.

[@julesdingle]

Yes as pointed out to me car culture was the norm right up to the 80s in the Netherlands ..but something changed, yes democracy is important and local authorities having more money and control [something eroded in the UK].. but what was that change?

[@markuserikssen]

Groningen is definitely a great example for many other cities. I live nearby and sometimes I take these things for granted. But videos like this one make me appreciate our country more.

[@KevinRudd-w8s]

Until I retired I visited Conwy and Deganwy frequently both through work and for recreation, when I visited Conwy I always used the car park just outside the castle. During the summer months the town could become very busy so we tended to arrive early and then leave when the crowds began to build. I can remember the 1970s when Conwy didn't have a station and you had to alight at Llandudno Junction, about half a mile away and either walk or get a taxi into Conwy. The main A55 to Holyhead was a nightmare in those days, between Colwyn Bay and Holyhead it passed through nearly every town and village en route, Conwy being a particularly bad bottleneck. Britains town planners have always been bad, particularly during the fifties, sixties and seventies when the seemed to have a love affair with concrete. I remember when I first started visiting mainland Europe in the late seventies thinking how much better the Belgians, Dutch and Scandinavians seemed to be at blending the new with the old. I live just outside Chester, which in my opinion would have benefited from a more European approach. That being said, its still kept much of its character and it does have decent rail links, the station could be better though. For some reason one of the four park and ride stations has been closed for a number of years.

[@liamot]

First impression of Conwy was of the cars. Madness allowing cars up/to park on High St. Pedestrians outnumber the cars 50 to 1

[@thehearingaid]

I've visited once, it was nice enough and had some good shops - though surprisingly baren when it came to good cafes (recc some in menai bridge) - but yeah it felt like a town with a lot of potential, The traffic didn't feel too intrusive (relative to other towns) but yeah just some better investment etc and it could be really great.

[@DeputyChiefWhip]

Im a Brit that lives near Naarden. I hate to say this but, comparing the old fashioned mindset and planning of the UK and the Dutch is like comparing sour apples and chocolate! Bikes are a great way to free up traffic, but There's no way you would get most Brits to even use a bike, never mind set up roads for cycling lanes.

[@David-bi6lf]

Yes you would get most people to cycle. We are no different to the Dutch. It's the environment that makes cycling undesirable. I take it you never cycled back in Britain, maybe you should go back try it to compare and contrast. Hint. It's not because it's less rainy, windy, flat etc.

[@nas4apps]

I live in Naarden! Surprised to see this film, indeed: traffic! Naarden main throughway included multiple 90 degree bends, no asphalt (cobblestones work like speed-bumps), of course speed bumps, a town's population who do not want too many vehicles and in mornings, they have traffic limitations! These are traffic lights outside of the walled city only allowing a few vehicles per minute through. More demand: just wait in queue. A man-made traffic jam, to allow for calm traffic in the town itself. Residents typically only travel outbound in the mornings, they have almost no issues. Builders: they arrive (very) early or wait. But those lights only work when traffic hits a certain rate. These days: most travel around! This becomes habitual. Speed is 30km/u. And everything is geared to bicycles. There is free (!) parking, but limited parking on market streets. Idea ofr Conwy: Take out the asphalt, limit through traffic with traffic lights (Naarden even uses a heavy beem that moves up from the pavement to block passage when the lights are red). Add traditional cobblestones fitting to the architecture, use bicycle freedom, allow for out door dining or pub area's. Add more green (small grass belts, lined-trees, other trees with wrought iron circular covers. Require busses to park on certain spots with same way out as in, no through traffic for busses. Minimize truck access to final destination traffic only. Finally, install draw bridges which can dump vehicles every once in the while .... uh - joking! It is a hassle to drive through Naarden, but ok to visit the market. Most shops are specialty shops. There are many cultural activities in the main Church - busses need to park outside of town (only drive in to drop off or collect people) however, many busses do not even drive into town at all (for some reason). I love (!!!) to walk through or around town, buy ice cream or sit down with my dog and get a coffee and apple pie on a Sunday afternoon. Love the small restaurants in different price ranges up to (former ... ok) single Michelin star, but starting with chips and mayonnaise. We lack the proper fish and chips!! You forgot that last point - Naarden has no fish and chips. There is fish, also chips, but come on .... raw herring? (love it, at the Saturday morning market). For me: look forward to visit Conwy. Naarden by the way: fully, totally, majority .......... conservative!!! Oh yes, lean to the right, love cars, but demand 'livability'! Demand that! And get to love it.

[@julesdingle]

thank you.. I loved my visit, found food and a bar [parked overnight in the free car park - I'm sure its not allowed] had coffee in a cafe in the street in the morning, walked the walls and yes if I had €350k would happily buy a flat in town A and yes cobbles- it slows traffic, makes the pavement/road blend into one and keeps drivers on their guard. Wales now has 30kmph speed limits in towns. I didn't realise there was a market.

[@nas4apps]

@julesdingle Great fim! Market is Sayurday until 1400.

[@dafydd93]

I travel to Conwy frequently for work and could never understand how the high street in this beautiful historic town had the same feeling as a many of the post industrial towns here in South Wales. I think this sums it up pretty nicely! The small size of the town would be ideal for pedestrianization and an increased frequency in rail service alone could easily transform it into a must see destination for the UK.

[@paulgroen6902]

The highway around Naarden is a heritage from WWII. And the center of Naarden Vesting is still for some a through road. Wich in turn makes a lot of noise with the cobblestones. Wich makes sitting on a terrace is not that enjoyable. I would rather go to Amersfoort, Elburg or Heusden wich are carefree for a major part of the city center. But still better then Conwy 😊

[@ftftyffghfvghfcht6701]

everytime i drive around the uk i am astonished at the fact that none of the roads appear to be in straight lines. none. city centre, town. very short, randomly winding roads. and not in a deliberate, artful way, just so random. then i go on google street view of a random outskirt of another countries city, or i watch one of those youtube videos where they walk through the city, and it is constructed of straight lines. the urban planning looks deliberate. its just weird frankly. i wonder how that came about.

[@julesdingle]

Conwy actually has the original Medieval street grid so the roads are straight- for the rest of the countryside the roads date back to pre Roman times when they were tracks around properties and between villages and follow routes best for horse drawn carts. London's random street plan dates back to its growth in the Medieval period but Glasgow for instance was planned and has a grid system.

[@LexSchoones]

This is one of my favourite things about the UK tbh, it gives everything a more medieval vibe. I think those sorts of streets make walking more interesting (I say this as a Dutch person)

[@Roderic07]

the thing with Naarden is that yes its quiet during the day...but people use Naarden as a shortcut to get home...so at rush hour we have 500 more cars than normal...there are plans to make the main street car free...but some shop owners are against it...for it will loose customers...and there are also more cars than residents there ( around 1500 people live there)...and some streets are so small...that together with parked cars...the firetrucks or ambulances have no way to get through...

[@bruceknights8330]

One thing that does strike me is the current cars verses bikes argument, with both sides entrenched. I think we need a hybrid solution. I drive a Kei car, which is specified deliberately for cities. If you live in an urban area, then maybe in town access should be limited to 1 Kei car per household, with high quality parking available beyond town boundaries at subsidised costs for locals and visitors. My local city has expensive city centre car parking and under used park and ride sites 10 plus minutes outside the city centre. Unsurprisingly, the high street is dying, but out of town retail parks with free parking are full. I live 8 miles from the city centre, but the bus ( half a mile away, along an unlit, unpaved country road, takes 45 minutes. There is an excellent train service from a station 4 miles from my home, but the car park is £8 and the local bus doesnt run to it. Cycling is not practical. The local roads are too narrow, too busy, and poorly lit. Only a fool cycles on roads where HGVs have to overtake you and tye speed limit is 60 mph. So whats the answer? Cheap and safe parking nearer the town centre but outside the historic centre, with intense shuttle bus links to the centre and transport hubs. Limitations on car access to the centre, but secure parking nearby for the residents. Kei cars, not SUVs. Proper cycle routes away from other yraffic, in the inner area.existing bus routes stop at out new inner urban car parks, rather than the high street and bus depot. You could pay for some of this by selling off the out of town park and ride sites for housing development. Also by making free shuttle bus links a requirement of all out of town retail developments. Just my thoughts...

[@Brownwhale7]

I'm from North Wales and it's the same story over and over again with towns and villages that have so much potential and are totally wasted. It breaks my heart. Caernarfon is even worse.

[@rudynathan8852]

Naarden is a very affluent town. Very much above the national average.

[@julesdingle]

yes, I did see the house prices when I visited but Conwy is by no means a cheap part of Wales - in the city walls a small 2 bedroom cottage is €280,000

[@ashleyftcash]

That's so cheap! Crying in Dutch 😢 Our house prices went up fast due to bad laws who did not ban foreign investors who bought out houses, rented it out for a high price and lots did it at the same time and became the new normal. On top of that Dutch picked up on the profit scheme and started to do the same. With such a dense population, combined with the economics at the time, 40m2 not so good housing equals € 300k+ or something between € 1.500 - € 2.200 rent (for the bare minimum). A while back old laws came back again which states that not anyone can just buy a house and rent it out and finally some tiny bit space came on the market, now there are new laws but it takes time before the positive side can show (investors are now selling their houses because it does not make the insane profit as before, so now people who rent those houses have a huge problem). We cope with a huge housing problem which is partly unnecessary

[@boudys8755]

I have living in Naarden go there!!! Its a nice place❤

[@Stefan-85]

When you're travel to The Netherlands, please visit also Naarden. Just 30 minutes drive away from Amsterdam 😊🇳🇱❤️🇬🇧

[@VoidUnderTheSun]

Once again: Cars & "my personal need"

[@Evemeister12]

Park and ride scheme, restrict town parking rights to registered local residents and businesses only.

[@julesdingle]

the town is so tiny access from the Morfa Bach car park is more than adequate for visitors .. in retrospective contemplation ! the A547 [the old A55 through town] has not been down graded to reflect it being a B road in reality.. for drivers it is still an A road ..and we drivers are opportunist- if it feels like an A road we treat it as such.

[@juliansadler6263]

The car addicts don't understand Residents' Parking Only. They get aggressive when invited to move their car away from my front door.

[@InsanitiesBrother]

Park and ride hurts small towns. Well, depending on what we want small towns to be. Are the people who live there meant to be insular? Park and ride would have to be really expensive to be cost neutrak for the few visitors you would get. It's also not ideal to make concrete car parks everywhere. I think the best fix for short term, is to build a multi storey car park that is modeled off a boat yard or something that fits the local environment. 30 spots would probably be fine for all these tiny towns. Unfortunately, we don't live in the 1400s, whilst it is nice to feel like you live in an enclave only listening to the local Lord or Earl. You simply can't expect that in today's times.

[@MarcelVolker]

The distances are so short, you really do not need "park & ride" - that is still buying into the car-centric narrative, just with different types of cars. "Park & walk" is plenty sufficient.

[@Paul_C]

You might take a look at another dutch city. 's Hertogenbosch, a walled city with most of it's walls intact. Traffic wise there's just one big bottleneck, which is not easy to rectify, but they are trying. That said, it is a more pleasant city than anything the UK has to offer. At least, when you look at the way the newly built up area is considered.

[@ffotograffydd]

Do you have any evidence that it’s better than anything the UK has to offer? Or is that just your biased opinion? 😂

[@garethwilliams976]

There is plenty of land suitable fot car parking near the town close to Bodlondeb and if coaches and cars were directed there from the a55 together with a park and drive shuttle much of the congestion during the Summer months would be eased.

[@m00zic]

I'd be interested to see a video of Knaresborough and Harrogate North Yorkshire. The A59 passes right through Knareborough centre the A59 is the high street. All throughout the day the cars trundle along and it's just bad cranky drivers and bedlam. I think it really spoils Knareborough and Harrogate because it's just so busy with traffic which is a real shame because they would otherwise be lovely towns.

[@iamjoestafford]

I love Knaresborough, but you are so right - and sadly there are lots of places like that throughout the country. So much wasted potential!

[@pmufc7]

I've lived near both Conwy and Knaresborough, Knaresborough reminds me much of a welsh town, the square there could be very nice but as usual it's ended up as a car park, you see old people walking around looking for places to sit when there is much more space given to cars than seating

[@kacperwoch4368]

I visited Britain twice and both times I was somewhat disappointed. Every urban space felt sad and uninviting. I noticed that pavements are weirdly narrow while car lanes are super wide even within urban areas like shown in 6:50 or 6:58 or 7:30. What is all this asphalt for? Why does a lane need to be 4 meters wide?

[@julesdingle]

in defence off the town, prior to 1990 the town was on a key route , the road there designed to accommodate the traffic However despite the by pass the infrastructure remained. in the early 2000s there was plenty of government money to modify the roads- yet nothing happened. After 2010 austerity led to local government getting reduced budgets every year to the point the UK is riddled with pot holes. Personally I just think we need to see what other cities and towns do in Europe to expand our outlook and see what we could have!

[@joshmarsh2532]

The roads in all three pictures there pre-date the existence of the car

[@ashleyftcash]

​@@julesdingleoe I like to read all these explanations, historically, what has happend in the meantkme, oppertunities not met, other things which make it hard. I am impressed that you know so much ans share these in the comments

[@rogerwilco2]

I believe the difference has a lot to do with the election system used. The Dutch use proportional representation at all levels, which allows for many more political viewpoints and much larger influence on politicians by the voters.

[@vanburger]

I think topology has more to do with it than you mentioned. Also Naarden has less tourist visitors than Conwy.

[@BA-sf4uw]

Please could you do the talk in Conwy about it?

[@julesdingle]

yes I would love to but I don't think I'm an expert on the matter. But I'm open to invites

[@petergibson2318]

Townsplaining? Is that the bricks-and-mortar version of "Mansplaining"?

[@rmyikzelf5604]

Hang on. Naarden Vesting (fortress) does not have an elected mayor. Nor does any municipality in the Netherlands. And it likely is part of a larger municipal government as the drive to merge towns has been going on for decades. The difference is probably local politics and governance is really local, and not at the same time national.

[@user-Wojciech]

People in the UK drive everywhere, won't walk far, cycling is a niche thing. Manchester has had new cycle lanes built in the last few years. During covid they've also separated whole lanes of traffic on dual carriageways for cyclists. When diesel got to £2/L during covid I was still astonished to see empty cycle lanes and people queueing in traffic in the suburbs. The weather was great, there was no excuse. I thought if people in the UK even in these circumstances prefer to drive everywhere (most likely short distances within the city) then it will never change.

[@radiotuvalu9307]

Spot on. All the comments here complaining about the cold, rain and hills - the Brits are a bunch of wimps that love to complain rather than actually giving it a go. God forbid you have to walk a 1/4 mile to improve your own neighbourhood. People in UK towns don’t know what they’re missing out on

[@alexbarry5288]

lovely vid on a town I know well. the vision for what is possible without cars is clearly lacking throughout the uk. too much time spent comparing ourselves with our American cousins than our European counterparts

[@Fikkie]

I live close to Naarden. It’s beautiful, but was conquered every time an enemy wanted to conquer it.

[@theweirdlookingcat8062]

There's no need to change Conwy, traffic moves through steadily (unless the tunnel is occasionally closed)

[@Ronnet]

FYI, the purpose of the video wasn't to make life better for drivers in Conwy.

[@theweirdlookingcat8062]

@@Ronnet I live and work here, do you?

[@vetex007]

Great video 👍🏻👍🏻

[@Adargi]

UK: How do we make our destinations more attractive.. Let's replace all the lovely greenery and quaint quiet towns with tarmac, can't go wrong with tarmac right?

[@antonycharnock2993]

What about Caernarfon which is a similar place to Conwy in many respects - A large castle and fortified town walls which actually is largely traffic free within the old town. Is it any better off or more attractive than Conwy. I've visited both and found Caernarfon a lot more run down with less tourism than Conwy. A factor might also be the nationalist feel to the area.

[@julesdingle]

Caernarfon is an odd one although the old walled town doesn't have the same rich architectural heritage or retail or cafes - but yes the old town feels a bit soul less

[@garethking1639]

@@julesdingleCaernarfon is also significantly further from large centres of population than Conwy.

[@julesdingle]

on a purely attraction basis Conwy is on the doorstep of England and I would claim it has a better castle [although Caernarfon has a more cultural interesting castle because of its design although that is a bit niche]

[@Mulberry2000]

I love Conway have had great memories going there as a kid.

[@andrekloer]

3:02 The star form of Naarden doesn't date from the 18th century, but the 17th century, after the Spanish army broke down the old city wall in the 16th century as a punishment for the city's resistance. The Dutch Republic rebuild the city wall in the 17th century in the shape of a star for better protection. Additions to the design were made in the 19th and 20th century. So actually nothing at all was done to the city wall in the 18th century

[@julesdingle]

thanks for the clarification - I was reliant on a single source [wikipedia] and I should have been more diligent However, I filmed the town for another video exploring star forts and will include the facts in that video !

[@rientsdijkstra4266]

If people can't park in front of my shop, they won't come... That is about the most heard fallacy / misconception in the world. I think has to do with a particularly pernicious mental bias: people experience loss much more directly than gain... So if you say: we are going to take the parkingspots away they immediately "feel" the expected loss of those few customers who would not come because of that, while they don't trust the promisse of MORE customers coming back in return... This is why sometimes decisions for the common good just have to be implemented...

[@istoppedcaring6209]

in ghent the narative of a war on motorists is actually true though it was a case of sealing off not a small historical town but a historical provincial capital city with over 200k people in it and a university. meanwhile the historical center had allready been a traffic free zone for years. there is a way in which these things should be done but the UK has utterly failed at it and the cause lays with where power is located and how badly people are informed, we complain about ghent and it has caused controversy but in the UK this is a non issue whilst the solution is relatively much simpler. Simply relocate cartravel to outside the walls and allow only deliveries and work verhicles on certain days or better yet with licenses and emergency verhicles and taxis on the others. that is what ghent did right, what ghent did wrong was extending this to far and to make the roadplan confusing whilst fining people for things they couldn't get around like students moving out of their dorms

[@thehearingaid]

I can only comment as a tourist - I loved visiting Ghent. Stayed between Ledeberg and Molenberg and mostly used public transport and it was a delight. We did drive into the town once and park and that seemed okay. But yeah I have no idea on anything else :D

[@SensitivityGames]

Simple explenation we were under threat from all sides most of the time. You also see this with modern day israel. And thier remarkable iron dome and systems alike. If you arnt safe you must improvise and be on top of the game. Its that or fall down. England was on a island that only seen some invasions in the time it was pretty easy to do so. After that only the dutch once took it under wiliam the third but that was more a liberation cause england fell into catholic hands and we both were protestants. So dukes in whales and scotland worked together and asked us to come. They were not bad. They just had not the urgeing need to do so.

[@pieterzuiddam]

I am Dutch but in the French region of Aveyron at the moment. I am so surprised by all the lovely renovated medieval villages. It is clear the French love their history. What is the matter with the British people not to conserve their heritage and to pull out cars?

[@slimehound1934]

great video!

[@AnsonWight]

Have you ever stood in the car park of your local Tesco and watched people leaving. They wheel a massive trolley over to their car and load a mountain of bags into the boot. Even if they live within walking or cycling distance of the shop there is no way they could carry that lot home. So they drive. Now, in an ideal world people might walk to a local shop every two or three days and buy only what they can carry. But most people can’t be bothered to put in that extra effort, especially as they often work long hours and are too knackered after work to be lugging shopping bags around! Regarding places like Dubrovnik where traffic is banned…what happens if you live there and need a new fridge? Or need a plumber?

[@julesdingle]

you highlight a genuine fear when it comes to traffic planning, I choose Conwy because it is globally significant as an historic town & focus just on the small walled part: visitors are not doing their weekly grocery shop or delivering fridges or attending medical appointments, they come to enjoy a medieval town. I chose Naarden as an example because they have not banned cars simply that through a choice of paving, speed management and encouragement have found a balance between needs of people to use a car and the need for people to be able to enjoy town life either as residents or visitors you touch of on a really important point- 'effort', and if there is an alternative to hunting down a parking place, or sitting in traffic, or the effort of owning a car [because they're expensive & a pain on a short journey] then people do chose the pleasure of walking or cycling or public transport thanks for your comment

[@dionb5276]

The problem with cars in towns like this isn't the local residents, it's all the visitors. Those cars stuffing the parking lots and clogging the streets are overwhelmingly from outside, with precious little shopping onboard. You don't even need to ban anything, just address the perversity of it being no more expensive to park inside the walls than outside and it would make a difference. And as for the truly car-free places: workmen and delivery services have permits that they are allowed in. They also aren't the problem.

[@daan9094]

in the Netherlands here a lot of people do shopping by bike, we attach bags to the side of the bike and put groceries in there. Works like a charm but u can only so much at a time. Also netherlands has high density so there are supermarkets everywhere relatively close by so you could also do multiple trips

[@TO454-h4r]

The thing is no one is talking about banning trade vehicles or deliveries (at least I hope they aren't) they are talking about a serious reduction in a lot of routine traffic by providing viable alternatives to driving for those who would be able to utilise them (most people). I personally walk home and if there is a food shop on your route that you walk it's extremely easy to just pop in and grab a few bits, it's far less effort than getting in your car at the weekend and doing a big shop.

[@AnsonWight]

@@TO454-h4r Yes, I agree. There is a Tesco within walking distance from me, and I have the luxury of having the time to walk round several times a week. But most people need more carrot and less stick to change their behaviour. A lot of politicians just reach for the stick - probably because it is cheaper! The trade vehicle thing was in response to someone mentioning that all vehicles are banned in Dubrovnik. I wonder how that actually works?

[@wilsonfamily1762]

Excellent narrative. Once again lack of joined up thinking in the general population stops meaningful change for the better and keeps people missing the opportunities for a better life. The road lobby is killing Britain.

[@grywilliams8976]

I think you need to understand the local geology with Conwy roads giving access to many villages on the south of the Conwy estuary and mountains blocking the other. 👍

[@joeegg90]

Answer: Because it's always been this way, oh , and it's Britain.

[@robertfoulkes1832]

Why are you referring to the town and river by the obsolete English name "Conway" in the narration? The proper Welsh name Conwy has officially been used for both since 1972 and is also the name of the local authority. Similarly the merchant's house there is Aberconwy House, not "Aberconway".

[@julesdingle]

so yes deliberate - as in I choose the welsh spelling but went for the more common English pronunciation [to avoid confusion] I should have made clear its correct pronunciation and continued with that in the rest of the video - I am working on a video about Darwin and Yr Wyddfa and will have to mix it with the English so people know what Im talking about

[@AudieHolland]

Three bridges next to each other. Is that some sort of record?

[@julesdingle]

the River Tyne at Newcastle town centre has 5 or 6 in a short stretch

[@grywilliams8976]

That depict the complex geology of Conwy and the surrounding area. 👍

[@helenooft9664]

The infrastructure from GB is very bad. Only Londen is the exception, and the situation in the Nord is bad, that has to be much better. It's better to invest in the Nord than in London at the moment.

[@BNHC0]

towns are simply nicer places to be when there is less traffic, the highstreet is dead because nobody wants to spend the day standing on the side of a busy road

[@grywilliams8976]

Visit Conwy and you might have a different view. I live very close to Conwy and that's not my view, maybe in cities!!

[@julesdingle]

your voice is important in that you do represent a large section of society, given that there is plenty of ways to improve the traffic in the city walls that could range from simply reducing parking, widening the pavements etc to reduce needless traffic all the way to banning cars for all but residents [to a complete ban] what would be acceptable ? Or do you not mind traffic?

[@thwalesproductions]

Conwy high street is never dead in peak season cars or not

[@carolstephens8387]

So much more going on in Conway than in Caernarfon

[@lawrencejob]

Where are the residents driving to/from??!

[@grywilliams8976]

Jobs in hospitals Social Services: my daughter lives there and she is a nurse.

[@lawrencejob]

@@grywilliams8976 this is such a great example of someone who might need to keep a car even if the centre of the town is pedestrianised.. does she stay inside the bounds of the town, or does she leave the town regularly for work?

[@garethwilliams8091]

Lack of ambition is the issue

[@WTU208]

Funny how a castle built to keep the Welsh out, today is a top Welsh tourist attraction.

[@ilikethiskindatube]

By the 15th century, the Welsh weren't allowed to live in towns in Wales, so that irony was inevitable

[@Samark-J]

Anecdoctastic!

[@Anihalas]

Your microphone is clipping.

[@somethingfunny6867]

a town like conway is ideal for reducing car traffic. the problem is when its applied to a 1960's suberb it is stupid.

[@JohnFromAccounting]

1960s suburbs will be demolished eventually. They literally can never succeed because they are not financially sustainable.

[@RagingDong]

Poor people cant afford the train.

[@ffotograffydd]

It’s more to do with lack of investment in public transport in Wales. For those of us not living on the south coast it’s almost impossible to travel anywhere on public transport in a timely manner. For example it takes me less than two hours to drive to Cardiff. If I want to travel there by train I have to drive west for 30 minutes, catch a train east to England, then another train south, then another train west back into Wales. It would take me most of the day.

[@Evemeister12]

They can't afford cars and its associated costs either.

[@lemsip207]

​@ffotograffydd Plus in North and Mid Wales, there are towns close together but on different railway lines that are no longer linked up except in England. So travelling between them by train involves a long round trip. They could put in a railway line running down the west coast. In South Wales there used to be a railway line between Abergavenny and Monmouth and one between Brecon and Neath.

[@ffotograffydd]

@@lemsip207 There use to be a north/south line but parts of it were scrapped in the 1960s, they should reinstate the sections between Bangor and Afon-Wen and between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen. That way people in West Wales could more easily travel north and south by train which would help the economy here and allow those with jobs in larger towns and cities to commute easily by train.

[@lemsip207]

@@ffotograffydd Aberystwyth and Fishguard as well.

[@gwynedd4023]

its nice in the winter

[@gwynedd4023]

when there are no tourists

[@glorck7064]

You talk like a british G man

[@ThePalaeontologist]

Consider the pop-filter. Focus on it's qualities, focus on it's strengths.

[@aname4822]

HET GOOI MENTIONED!

[@alunrees313]

Why have you got a foreign flag in the beginning, it’s Wales where’s the Welsh flag the Dragon

[@julesdingle]

I felt it was a British rather than Welsh problem, and not single out our nation as bad with town planning [although there is nothing stopping us having more European towns and cities]

[@666Maeglin]

The netherlands has no elected mayors, only appointed ones after an application process

[@julesdingle]

I'm unsure of the democratic process in the Netherlands, I'm only aware the tax system is different as are the powers wielded by local communities. It was more of an observation that power is more centralised in the UK which may be a cause of the lack of proactive town planning

[@666Maeglin]

​@@julesdingle they made a very simple traffic regulation booklet for road design by the state. just 3 kinds of roads. It just says that the cities and gemeentes ( municipalities, communal administrations that fall under a major and municipality councils) Have to implement their traffic accoerding to these very few rules. The rules say that the municipality is responcible for the costs of everyone falling victim due to not implemented or badly impleneted regulations, and through damage on the streets or traffic signs. So it is cheaper for these municipalities to optimise for cycle traffic and live ability than car traffic and parking. After having seen piopneers like Groningen the cycle capital of the world, implement a very radical car hostile but walking, cycling and public traffic friendly politics, the different municipalities have now embarked on a large implementation of these cost saving 3 kinds of roads, that hugely improve quality of life in cities and reduce cost for municipalities. So they compete against each other and work together to get the best infrastructure for livabilioty in the cities.

[@frankparsons1629]

What is "Townsplaining"??

[@julesdingle]

mansplaining town planning!

[@Bertie_Ahern]

Town planning in Britain isn't given the importance it deserves. And many municipalities lack the autonomy to really enact many of the best ideas, due to the overbearing centralization of power in the UK.

[@deserteagle-nx1hl]

In my city Auckland they have narrowed the primary traffic concourse area Queen street and made large extensions of the train station system. Retailers have been hit hard, the crime rate has spiked and Auckland has spiralled into debt. Anti car ideology probably works in medieval towns with a storied legacy, but Auckland is a prime example of how large urban centres impede automobiles at their peril.

[@julesdingle]

Was Queen st originally a 6 lane highway? how did the city absorb that number of cars and where did they park to go shopping? How has wider pavement increased crime? you post summons up more questions than answers

[@lkruijsw]

I have looked up some newarticles about this and reading an article in the NZ Herald. There is no link with making Queen Street more pedestrian friendly and the increased crime rate. Is the post COVID situation not more the issue? Due to the City Rail Link project (with increased cost due to COVID), there is a lot of construction, okay that is true. If one street is made more pedestrian friendly, or making one medieval town less car centric, while there are billions every year spend on car roads, is "anti car ideology", then you are certainly "boulder everything for the car ideology". It is well known that reducing cars in the centre is good for business. You can easily check that by yourself. Look on Google maps on a random city or town in US and look at the street shops. It is misserable. Compare it with any town in Europe with some pedestrian core. Yes, cars are very useful, and we can't live without them anymore. However, they also destroy city centres and add zero to social safety.

[@digit-zero]

Sychan is pronounced "sih-khan" not "sie-kan"

[@julesdingle]

thanks- I wasn't sure but couldn't find an authentic pronunciation [is that khan as in Wrath of Khan?]

[@digit-zero]

@julesdingle No, the "Kh" sound is not in the English language. It is best described as a controlled choking sound, it is prevalent in all celtic languages I think

[@julesdingle]

@@digit-zero well I'm glad I did not attempt it. I avoided trying to pronounce another pass in another video and plumped for just having the text on screen -Bwlchyroerddrws

[@tardismole]

I can answer your question with just one word, without watching the video. Geology. Naarden is in the Netherlands, a country which is flat and mostly mud. Conwy is in Wales, built on rocky moutains. It's all mountains and valleys here. Most of Britain is hilly/moutainous, meaning roads and buildings have to be build around them. A little bit of thought goes a long way. Perhaps you would like to visit and ask a local? Please don't compare my country with another without research. Wales is unique. Gallaf ateb eich cwestiwn gydag un gair yn unig, heb wylio'r fideo. Daeareg. Mae Naarden yn yr Iseldiroedd, gwlad sy'n wastad ac yn fwd yn bennaf. Mae Conwy yng Nghymru, wedi ei adeiladu ar fynyddoedd creigiog. Mae'r cyfan yn fynyddoedd a dyffrynnoedd yma. Mae'r rhan fwyaf o Brydain yn fryniog/mynyddol, sy'n golygu bod yn rhaid adeiladu ffyrdd ac adeiladau o'u cwmpas. Mae ychydig o feddwl yn mynd yn bell. Efallai yr hoffech chi ymweld a holi rhywun lleol? Peidiwch â chymharu fy ngwlad ag un arall heb ymchwil. Mae Cymru yn unigryw.

[@julesdingle]

Watch the video! it really helps, and I know my country's topography -indeed Wales is unique and beautiful - I make a lot of videos on Wales

[@claroeoscar]

I mean dubrovnik and surrounding is incredibly hilly, far hillier than conwy thats for sure. I agree Netherlands is always an easier example because it is flat, but a better example that comes to mind is Switzerland which does have a few 'hills' and is planned very thoughtfully.

[@chrishartley4553]

And what the heck does that have to do with the video?

[@thomastoadie9006]

@tardismole You must be fun at parties :D

[@stevecarter8810]

​@@chrishartley4553nothing, as the ignoramus who posted it has already declared! Stated they did not watch the video then told the video producer to go to Conwy and do their research.

[@cynthiamorris1874]

I love north Wales

[@oldskoolmusicnostalgia]

British towns were designed for aristocrats, not ordinary dwellers.

[@fumblingman1691]

"Conwy has loads of parking" *cuts to clip of loads of street parking in the Netherlands* This video came up as suggested, and it's more of the same tired nonsense. Comparing two largely incomparable places and saying "look, cars bad". Yeah, ok, excessive traffic is unhealthy, we know. There's a bypass and there's a mass transport link (something Naarden doesn't have). What is Britain bad at exactly? Conwy wasn't designed for cars or trains, but it's adapted to both. If you don't like the existence of parking or trains in a place like this, don't visit it. It's not like they've knocked buildings down to build a shopping supercentre

[@kaneworthington]

Whilst I agree with most of your points, you really are failing to see the forest through the trees when it comes to LTN's and ULEZ Zones. It is a climate pretense for the greater restrictions of movement to come, as well as the abolition of private vehicle ownership in the 2030's/40's, for us plebs only of course, not before making it nigh impossible and expensive to do so first as a shadow ban. The social credit system will ensure of this, and lock you into your neighbourhoods. I hate that is where we are heading, but better, pedestrian town planning is a must - with the exception of public transport, and for those who are elderly, disabled or with children. My biggest gripe with carphobic KZbinrs is that they never take into consideration people with children. And with the growing number of dangerous non-natives flooding europe, there is not a chance in hell I would take my child on most forms of public transport, especially in larger cities, with the relative exception of trains. Our high trust societies are being destroyed, and with that comes the death of our public safety. It's all well and good wanting to walk and bike everywhere until you're robbed, mugged or worse by people with no ID and a machete. Having this opinion is not what you think it is, the R word so often used, but it is a simple fact. Feel free to pay £7.20 to rent a bike for 20 minutes each way in London from Lime or have yours stolen the second you leave it anywhere public, even locked. Homogeneity is key to building these high trust, safe and secure, walkable societies. Conwy is not what im talking about here, but wait until you're locked into your district in London, Birmingham, Bradford, Leeds etc.

[@ffotograffydd]

If we banned cars in Wales we’d never be able to get anywhere because Westminster has a tendency to redirect Welsh transport funding to projects like HS2. Honestly, attracting tourists is secondary to people who actually live here being able to get around.

[@Blackadder75]

You don;t get it. you can keep your car in Wales for trips OUTSIDE the town, just like the people of Naarden who own 1.0 cars per household, which is only slightly below the national average of 1.08 You just ban most cars inside the walls, only delivery and local residents can go there (and the latter only if they own their own parking spot)

[@ffotograffydd]

@@Blackadder75 I do get it mate, but you don’t seem to if you think everyone in Wales lives in towns or cities. A large percentage of people do not. We’re not here to be a tourist attraction, it’s where we live and work and we need to be able to travel around the country.

[@Hutsman3000]

​@@ffotograffyddyou can travel around the country perfectly fine if they only ban cars IN towns

[@ffotograffydd]

@@Hutsman3000 So how exactly do we get into towns and cities if we can’t use our cars? You’ve clearly never been to Wales if you can’t understand the point I’m making. 😂

[@Hutsman3000]

@@ffotograffydd You CAN use your car, just not in the towns!

[@argai1978]

The narrator has a very nasally voice.

[@andrewhutchinson36]

Ireland was never a "colony". You talk about getting things right & yet make this major error. Perhaps you have accepted too much Irish republican propaganda at face value? Ireland was a separate Kingdom prior to 1801 and then fully part of the United Kingdom, a privilege never extended to such British places as the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, let alone India, Canada, Australia, the American colonies etc etc.

[@jontalbot1]

This is well made and well argued but it is hard to believe fewer cars in Conway would boost tourism. Tourism in Wales peaked in the 1970s. Being realistic the market is overwhelmingly English and there is good evidence there are a lot of negative views of Wales, especially in the rich South East. That is why there have been advertising campaigns in recent years. But this is controversial in North Wales where there is a fear of cultural dilution. As you say, it’s up to the people of Conway. I am not one of them but a planner and occasional visitor. Seems to me the people there have the town they want.

[@julesdingle]

Conwy would boost tourism by being attractive to visitors, other towns in Europe that have restricted car access get MORE tourism because the place is worth visiting for its street atmosphere and the more visitors the more likely venues like the civic hall and Palace cinema would put on profitable arts events. The Castle car park with in the walls is a great space to have markets or a park to sit out and frequent cafes. As I pointed out Naarden doesn't ban cars - but the streets look like broad pavements and this encourages drivers to drive slowly, or find alternative routes or walk. But holiday lets, air bnb , and a lack of local empowerment means that little will happen

[@jontalbot1]

@@julesdingle What evidence do you have to prove restrictions on car use boosts tourism? Actually l can save you the trouble: none. Do you honestly believe people go to Barcelona or Paris because of its urban transport planning? Take somewhere more comparable- Ludlow. Small, historic and similar approach to traffic management. It attracts more visitors because it is closer to large populations and has a relatively prosperous population who can afford its famed but pricey restaurants. Nor does it have the negative external perception some people have of Wales. You can argue Conway should manage cars better but do not imagine it will have much impact in tourism.

[@julesdingle]

@@jontalbot1 yes, what brings success to a town is subjective. But comparing it to Ludlow Would argue it has better traffic management - the town centre is largely by passed - the market area by the castle is traffic free and they hold markets and there is restrictions for traffic in the main shopping areas. Conwy being once the A55, but retaining the wide roads/narrow pavements and its use for transit through the town does encourage traffic. Sticking with facts- Conwy has much to make an attractive visitor destination such as history, architectural cohesion [when compared to Caernarfon walled town] and location I think what impressed me about Europe and Netherlands in particular is that motorists are not better than the Uk in fact their motorway driving is less polite. But dutch towns prioritise pedestrians and cyclists and public transport.. the roads are narrow and the pavements wide Drivers drive slowly because pavement and road are designed differently often with no curb in small town centres . If the streets had less cars- more market traders, more street dining and cafe spaces then that would attract visitors simply because there is potentially more commercial space. N.Wales does have other issues, poor public transport, lots of holiday rentals, 2nd homes but these larger problems are beyond the scope of my video

[@jontalbot1]

@@julesdingle You have an idea stuck in your head no amount of rational thinking can lodge. Let us say all the things happen you want and magically all those businesses appear in grey and wet North Wales. How long do they have to wait before tourists get the message? I would imagine several years after said businesses went bust. The negative image many English ( ie potential tourists) have of Wales is the result of a few actions by nationalists in the 1970s. That is how long perceptions last. The only way you could attract a lot more visitors is by making it a destination in the way Hay on Wye did. Street cafes etc are not an attraction- they are the result of an attraction

[@LightbulbTedbear2]

@@jontalbot1 "Do you honestly believe people go to Barcelona or Paris because of its urban transport planning?" Literally, yes. These places are famed for being places that are nice to walk around, explore, and soak up the atmosphere. This has everything to do with urban planning.

[@ChrisLonsdale67]

Naarden has massive geographical advantages which Conwy doesn't have, the main one being huge amounts of flat land which the town has spread out into. Also, Naarden is very close to massive urban areas and is easily accessed from them. Conwy, by contrast, is on a cramped, coastal site with hills all around. The two aren't really comparable. I think the fact you have compared them is so you can promote what seem to be some anti-car views. You even politicise the car issue, blaming "the right" for sticking up for motorists. But car ownership is now deep in the psyche of the British people. We don't really buy into the public transport ethos of some countries and I don't see that changing any time soon. We in Britain like the freedom that cars bring. Sure, they bring problems too but the average Briton is, at base, individualist and freedom-loving.

[@julesdingle]

the Netherlands has just as many cars, more motorways, and the drivers are not so polite. But when a historic town with an original medieval street plan starts to suffer.. perhaps the car needs some constraints. I choose a Dutch that hasn't banned car, doesn't have a rail link yet it seems to have a found a good balance. When it comes to car culture the rightwing press and last government DID exploit the 'war on the motorist' but thanks for your comment

[@ChristiaanHW]

The Netherlands has one of the highest cars per inhabitants figures of Europe, lots of people in The Netherlands have cars. but if a Dutch person would live in a town like Conwy they would do almost all of their local trips by bike or walking, so the town doesn't need parking on every street and next to each building. the town could easily dedicate almost all of the parking within it walls to greenery/parks and have the parking move to a few parking area's outside the walls. make sure to have a reliable bus route that goes trough the town and goes to those parking area's and it won't be a problem. towns like Conwy should be destinations not places you see from behind a car window while driving trough it. the things you mention that you think are disadvantageous to Conwy are actually some things the town could use to attract people. it has history, it lies next to a large body of water and it has hills were you could go for a hike. lot's of people would love to visit a town like that, but they have to know it exists and be able to reach it. and that means that the town needs to be connected to the region by reliable transportation options, like trains and busses, and come on once every 2 hours isn't reliable you need at least 1 every hour.

[@stephenwalton2633]

What a biased load of boll***s.Car parks are so expensive and now a pain in the neck because you have to download apps that we avoid them. We then look for parking in side streets . I go to Conway regularly. If you want to get the cars off the streets just make the car parks free and prohibit parking elsewhere in public ares except for the disabled.

[@julesdingle]

£1.40 an hour- & low as 70p an hour is cheap- Glasgow is very expensive at £10 an hour But I would agree with you, make the car park outside the city walls free & restrict parking inside the city walls as for biased bollocks I'm biased in favour of people friendly towns, do you prefer towns with noisy traffic and fumes when you shop or sit out and drink coffee?