Oxford 'climate lockdowns' and '15-minute city' - can anyone local explain their views on this?

[unsureatthispoint]

This news has been published in several media outlets and being talked about ATM.

Road blocks stopping most motorists from driving through Oxford city centre will divide the city into six "15 minute" neighbourhoods, a county council travel chief has said.

And he insisted the controversial plan would go ahead whether people liked it or not.

Duncan Enright, Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for travel and development strategy, explained the authority's traffic filter proposals in an interview in The Sunday Times.

He said the filters would turn Oxford into "a 15-minute city" with local services within a small walking radius.

Mr Enright said: "It is about making sure you have the community centre which has all of those essential needs, the bottle of milk, pharmacy, GP, schools which you need to have a 15-minute neighbourhood."

The aim is to reduce traffic in the city centre and make city living more pleasant, but critics say the plans will negatively affect businesses and the city centre's economy.

Here's the link

www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/23073992.traffic-filters-will-divide-city-six-15-minute-neighbourhoods-agrees-highways-councillor/

Are local people aware of this and what's their take on it?

Is Holis starting to remind anyone of a certain poster?

Definitely. I wonder if we're thinking about the same one @TheKeatingFive...

Well if she starts banging on about celebrating certain significant holidays on zoom, we'll know for sure. 😉

The embedded Tweet here makes me really sad.

twitter.com/PaulLomax/status/1601903541064552449

So well-off people will start cleaning their own homes and managing their own gardens, and stop doing constant house improvements?

@OxfordMother yes I will get the 100 passes but I am unlikely to use them - the whole point of my post is that I rarely drive anywhere within Oxford because I find other methods of transport to be cheaper and more convenient. The Oxford Mail has a recent story on the latest census returns from 2021 which show that the the majority of Oxford residents don’t drive to work - they walk, cycle or get the bus - https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/23181580.oxford-commuters-pick-active-travel-public-transport-census-shows/

A very large portion of residents are students. Students in Cities tend not to have cars.

But what about those that don't live in Oxford, but work in Oxford or their children go to school there?

@drspouse Which is why I said all these residents should stop hiring cleaners, dog walkers and similar to come to their house from outside the City.

Someone ought to tell the John Radcliffe to stop employing doctors and nurses and cleaners who come from outside the city. To do their bit.

Failing that, you could fit thousands of new homes on the University Parks or Port Meadow (the less flooding parts). Then they could all cycle or bus in to work. Shame about the snatching of beautiful historic green spaces, but hey.

But somehow I think the city will still want to have its cake and eat it. Lovely open spaces in the city. Essential staff and workers from outside the city so we don’t have to have the unsightly housing estates. But they can’t come in by car. And we haven’t any bright ideas about improving public transport.

I'm guessing the colleges and departments don't want any support staff, and the shops don't want any staff either? No teachers in the schools, no nursery staff, in fact nobody who earns less than a minimum £100K is allowed to work in the city?
Though of course you could ban people who live in the city from having children, that would cut out the need for teachers and nursery staff, and limit them to one earner per household, so no need to have any cleaners for their houses, lots of time to pop to the shops in the day; in fact, you could allow the second adult to work part time in a shop locally, or as a cleaner at the JR.

Not having children is the most effective step anyone could take to help solve the climate crisis.

Are you going to legislate for that, then?

Since I am not a member of parliament, my legislating seems unlikely.

Better let the colleges and university know they can only hire staff — academics, IT support, admin, anyone at all — from within the City. They’ll need to pay a lot more as most of those don’t currently earn enough to live in Oxford. But I’m sure that’ll happen and everything will turn out fine.

@jgw1
Dont get ill then. Don’t ever require secures from younger folk when you are older. Don’t expect much tax being paid when the population is even more too heavy! We need children!

We are being told this is to stop people travelling and they should live where they work. But I am pointing out that the people living in Oxford do not really mean that. Because they simply would not be happy to do everything they would have to do if low-paid workers do not travel into the City.
I fully expect after it is enacted lots of complaints about how they can't get a cleaner, coffee shops are understaffed, etc.

@drspouse If I do decide to run for parliament will you be my campaign manager?

Did I at any point say we didn't need children?

Pretty much sums it up. Worth thinking about how the population of the city itself is actually reliant on people commuting in.

A lot of the electorate in Oxford City are students, who'll tend to reap the benefits and not experience the downsides.

The narrative that all low paid jobs are only possible by car is a false one

I am very pleased to hear that the students in Oxford are sufficiently politically active and interested in their health and well being to have such a significant impact on local politics.

@Abra1t
The problem you describe is acute in Oxford. DH plays golf there and members find it difficult to get from home to the club now! Of course it could be built on!

I go in from a park and ride but I’m just an occasional visitor. There will no doubt be development along East/West rail too. I agree that voters who are not long term residents sway the outcomes of elections. Everyone is against housing though. Everywhere.

Oxford is really quite an interesting city in terms of local politics and demographics.