Lee Waters on Breaking Orthodoxy to Achieve Real Change

The Freewheeling Podcast

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9M ago 54:40

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Most politicians either follow public opinion or get trapped in the orthodoxy of the established approach.

Lee Waters took a different route. As both Minister for Transport and Minster for Climate Change in Wales, he led some of the most radical shifts in UK transport policy: drastically curtailing road-building, introducing a national 20mph speed limit and putting in place the foundations of a European-style integrated public transport system.

But change is hard, and in this discussion, he lays bare the political resistance, entrenched car dependency and cultural battles that make sustainable transport such a tough sell. We explore why transport is often ignored in politics, how it’s the paperwork of design manuals and Treasury rules that quietly shape our world - and why politicians need to stop treating mobility like an economic formula and start seeing it as a social justice issue.

Lee also reflects on the personal toll of political leadership, the lessons he learned about winning public support for difficult changes and why even the most radical policies can become accepted norms - if you stick with them.

If you care about transport, politics or just how to get big changes over the line, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

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