Green & Environment Programmes on TV - Green from Channel4.com

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Programme two: Boston

In a town that elected the majority of its council from Boston bypass independents, the car is king. But bumper to bumper traffic is killing the local community and market. Boston is also one of Britain's heaviest towns with one in three being diagnosed as being clinically obese, and Kris Murrin is sure there is a connection.

Kris says: 'The facts that I know are there is a weight issue in this town. There is a real health problem in this town and it has one of the lowest levels of activity of any town in Britain… There is a relationship between the fact that they are at traffic crises and the fact that their health is suffering… They don't seem to see that link at all.'

Battling gridlock in Boston has led to the election of a local council, made up of independents with little political experience but who plan on saving Boston from the traffic hell with a bypass. Realistically, the bypass is another 10 years away and Kris asks what they can act on now.

'This town will literally grind to a halt. But the bypass isn't going to solve it overnight and that's what people don't seem to realise. They've got to do something they can act on today that doesn't need infrastructure and the only thing they can do short-term is change their behaviour,' says Kris.

But persuading Boston to walk and cycle is going to be a tough job. 'What you have outside your house is just as important as what you have inside your house,' comments Jacqui who runs the community centre.

The residents of Boston view their cars as more than just a machine getting them from A to B. Kris needs to tackle this head-on, spreading her message from the community centre, the bingo hall and the local market. She even pitched her campaign at Boston United's football club during halftime, where she was booed off. As one resident puts it: 'I've worked all my bloody life for what I've got there. I'm not going to let some toffee-nosed twit tell what I can do and what I can't do.'