Maybe the purists would argue that there’s never a situation when you really have to use your car but sometimes the alternative is just to expensive or impractical that others would accept that it is appropriate.

County Councillor David Jenkins reports: ‘I work with a small company west of Birmingham which I’ve known for some years. I visit once a month and in these recessionary times such visits are valuable. There’s a young team there which has no experience of earlier recessions and I’m helping them to focus and ensure that they survive the recession and come out of it strong and in great shape to profit from the recovery. ‘

‘Ihe problem is getting from Cambridge to Shropshire. Train is possible but would take a day’s travelling in each direction. By car as long as I choose the right time to travel it’s just two and a half hours. But how can I make at least a gesture towards reducing my carbon emissions?’

‘I’m fortunate in that I’ve got a fuel efficient car anyway but this week I set the cruise control to 60mph. Dramatic. Instead of 55 or so mpg I got 65 and the impact on my journey time was not significant.’

‘For my journey this week the recession had a positive impact on my journey times. For the first time I can remember at 8.30 or so there was no hold up at the A14/M6 junction and no congestion acrosss the top of Birmingham.’

Douglas de Lacey, independent South Cambs district councillor for Girton has published a series of articles on ‘sustainable driving’ and these can be read on Nichola Harrison’s web-site. Click here.