Jethro Tull

Average petrol prices have now climbed past 132p/litre, according to this article on RSN Online.

This is the equivalent of £6 a gallon and the latest sign that driving is becoming increasingly unaffordable.

If this carries on “City Flight” will fizzle out and rural places will no longer suffer from the challenges of “blow ins” driving up house prices.

Instead those in our rural communities dependent on the private motor car, or public transport (which will undoubtedly diminish in the face of these sort of prices) will find themselves spending unsustainable amounts of their resources on simply getting about.

I have been doing some work over the last couple of weeks talking to communities in Lincolnshire about what makes their villages successful or in some cases (no names no pack drill) unsuccessful.

We have begun with a timeline and it is fascinating to chart the massive rise in population, in some settlements, as the introduction of the car, post war, gave families to mobility to choose to live in the country and work in the town.

Those days seem to be rapidly coming to an end- key question is  – can small scale and well meaning initiatives like the transition towns movement really address the challenge of “peak oil” or is something more significant needed?

All of this makes me think of those classic lines from “Heavy Horses” by Jethro Tull – “And one day when the oil barons have all dripped dry and the nights are seen to draw colder, they’ll beg for your strength, your gentle power, your noble grace and your bearing.”