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?

Reminder......... many councils gritted the roads but wouldnt touch the pavements during Decembers snow. I live opposite a school and it was gridlock as more parents got their cars out.

@EmmaEmerald has asked the same questions i was going to.

Meanwhile at the old Wethersfield air base near me they want to build two mega prisons This will take TEN YEARS with lorries and other vehcles going back and forth so alright when it suits

That's good to hear. Not in a vindictive sense, but there has to be a way to stop this madness. Authorities simply cannot do as they please, in the name of an utopia that nobody has voted for or tasked them to carry out

Just to clarify one point up thread. The plans are being brought in by Oxfordshire County Council as the local highway authority. The City Council supports the plans, but is not the instigator.

The County Council does have a duty to all the residents of Oxfordshire, not just the city, so the points about holiday makers having a right to vote above is total nonsense.

People in the villages should be told this very loud and clear before the next County elections.

Just saw an ad on tv for Oxfordshire City Council telling everyone to drive at 20 mph. Good use of taxpayers money (not)

@greenbackers Really interesting info thanks for sharing. Treatment of people living in villages is inexplicable then! As I mentioned upthread, the proposal is 100 passes a year for people living in Oxford where public transport is better and distances are shorter so walking/cycling is more possible, versus 25 passes a year for people living in villages where public transport is worse and distances are longer so walking/cycling is less possible/impossible. Does anyone know anything about this decision? Or why they didn’t do a congestion charge which at least provides funds to improve public transport? Thanks

This is a link to the Oxford Mail article re judicial review if anyone is interested www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/23294005.oxford-traffic-filters-fundraiser-mount-legal-challenge/

For those who are not aware ( I wasn't ) the council also intends to impose a daily charge for driving into the city as part of a zero emissions zone. This will rise to as much as £20 in 2025 for diesel cars.
@DuncanEnright do you have any comment on why this wasn't made clear in the consultation?
I'd say that this makes the gesture of 100/25 passes to drive into the city completely pointless.

This isn’t going to affect Duncan Enright so it’s not going to worry him!

Oh, so like a congestion charge as well as limits? Alongside passes?

Can only find a campaign group on Twitter, no actual proposals?

This is the scheme:

www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/connecting-oxfordshire/traffic-filters

As I understand it (hastily boned up, so may have missed things), the city is divided into zones. There are no physical restrictions preventing travel between zones. However to encourage the use of the ring road and deter traffic from the town centre there will be a charge if people travel directly between zones, rather travelling out, round and back in. Recognising that this will be inconvenient for residents in the city, residents will be allowed 100 exemptions per year, and will only be charged from the 101st time they pass through the filter. People living outside of the traffic filters will generally be expected to use the ring road. There are however further exemptions for special cases. Rather like the London congestion charge zone if people breach the terms, they will be issued with a fixed penalty notice.

It is only experimental, to see if it improves the town centre environment in Oxford and creates a move away from car dependency.

Winter I thought Toffee was saying there was a congestion proposed as well as the scheme you've mentioned.

Sorry, obviously missed the point!

I think this may be the other scheme referred to?

www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/oxford-zero-emission-zone-zez

This seems to be aimed more at improving air quality and reducing carbon emissions than reducing traffic as such, although obviously there is a relationship between the two.

Oh, so like an ULEZ on top of the other scheme.

Yes a congestion charge on top of the other scheme. Unless you have an electric vehicle you will have to pay to drive into town when using one of your 25/100 passes. Kind of makes a bit of a mockery of the passes. There was no transparency about this in the original consultation from what I could see. Although they seem to have completely ignored the public feeling on this anyway and are ploughing on regardless

I listened to interview on Radio Oxford this am where they were discussing the upcoming chaos when they shut the Botley Road for the rail bridge. It's been decided to do it in two 6 month sections to give some relief to the areas impacted. Dave Preaver (not sure of spelling) asked about how the emergency services would cope , apparently fire engines will be allowed through due to the type of tyres but ambulances will need to use the ring road. The interviewee said this wouldn't be a problem. Dave was incredulous and repeated what she had said because the ring road will be horrendous and even with people trying to get out of the way, will still delay ambulances etc.

He asked if she was concerned at all and she said she was. It feels like she had no comprehension of what is about to happen. At the moment, the chaos will be blamed on National Rail yet OCC want to inflict similar pain, presumably they will be happy to take the blame then.

It's interesting that the work is being split due to disruption to peoples' lives because surely sending all the traffic via the ring road because of their filters is going to have the same impact. Idiots

On the positive I guess this means that that those changes for the filters won't come in until after the bridge is finished, so it should delayed for another 6 months.

I find it absolutely weird reading this thread as it contradicts itself all the time.

The scheme is designed to help bus flow
But what about the slow buses, they're being ignored as usual

It's going to affect the really poor people with cars most
it's going to affect people using buses most
It's designed to help bus flow

It's going to affect the villages most, the affluent city will be all right as usual
The affluent villages will be all right, the city will be affected as usual

What about air pollution, it's going to be worse on the ring road
Electric cars are exempt from a lot of the restrictions, that's terrible

I'm just sick of it all. The protests, the death threats to elected councillors, the directly contradictory assertions. All about extensions that haven't even happened yet of traffic control schemes that have been in place for decades, and a years-overdue development of a mainline train station, of which we now have two.

@PermanentTemporary

People have every right to be extremely concerned about these proposals. It's going to have a huge impact on many peoples lives.

There are many reasons why people feel that it is a terrible idea which have been voiced on this thread. I'm not sure what is weird about the fact that some of these opinions contradict each other. That doesn't make them any less valid.

@OhFFS! This is really interesting (and v worrying), thanks for posting.

What time was this on the radio? I’d like to listen on catch-up if possible. Thanks

@OhFFS! that was to you, by the way 🙂

@Rummykitten it was about 7.15 -7.30 this morning