British families were in uproar this morning after Stefanie O’Gorman, who sits on the Scottish Government’s Climate Emergency Response Group, said construction of houses with double garages drove her “bonkers”. It led to angry debate on Good Morning Britain between self-proclaimed socialist Owen Jones and author Ella Whelan, with the latter saying many women would be lost without a second car.
Ms Whelan said: “If you live outside a metropolitan area and you’re a couple with a family it becomes quite clear that it’s necessary to have two vehicles to get to the shops, unless you want women to be beholden to their husbands’ schedules.”
Mr Thomas meanwhile said: “It’s a class issue. Richer people have second cars, poorer people don’t.
“We focus so much on cars, we don’t focus on bus routes for example. I don’t think it’s a good thing to live in urban areas where everything revolves around roads.”
Clips of the conversation on Twitter were commented on by many users, with one saying: “No train station hardly any buses and surrounded by country lanes, we have 3 cars, me the husband and son, all work different times of the day in different locations…would this lady be happier if we stayed home and claimed benefits?”
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Another called the idea ‘laughable’, saying they were a self-employed couple who couldn’t possibly work without two cars.
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Ms O’Gorman, who has advised the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on green spaces, said the current number of cars was not sustainable.
She told the Edinburgh Science Festival: “Whole communities being a certain number of people with a certain number of cars is just not acceptable anymore.
Speaking afterwards she continued, saying: “Designing new homes with double garages doesn’t consider the social and cultural changes taking place as we adapt our lives to live more sustainably… we can’t afford for everybody to have two cars.”
And her comments have prompted fury from ordinary people around the UK, not least among express.co.uk readers who have defended the need for more than one car.
Commenters flocked to the site to have their say on the issue.
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‘Bottlewatt’ said: “Read between the lines here, another government scam is underway. Councils will charge extra council tax if your garage or drive can hold more than one car.”
‘Theancienttone’ wrote: “Another woman who’s not in touch with reality. Many garages are used for storage.
“She fails to say why she only needs one car, it’s because she can use taxis and claim ALL the cost back on expenses.
“And, does she not realise there is an economic squeeze on households, so people need to get to discounted supermarkets, not expensive corner shops.”
Another, ‘Diginoo’ wrote: “Clearly another minister completely out of touch with reality, first if you really want to wean the country off car ownership you need to improve public transport!
“We have the highest transport cost probably in the world because we sold out our public infrastructure!”
‘Babyboomer’ added: “The way we are going there will be no cars, basic houses (still costing the same as today), only a matter of time before the number of children allowed becomes law and we will be eating grass because someone says it’s good for you!”
‘Margaretfan’ asked: “I wonder how much parking this politician has on their property?”
Commenter ‘Plainspeaker54’ wrote: “What colour is the sky in their world?
“I would also hazard a guess all these out of touch with reality ministers probably have more than one car in their own households.”
‘Gillipepper’ said: “A garage is a waste of space to get a car in and open the door enough to get in and out. To have more space for cars you pay for it with the higher cost of the house. Woke bonkers again.”
And ‘Jimbo1389’ added: “People who get their kicks from telling other people what to do are out dated and not wanted anymore.”