Since 2023, Oxfordshire County Council has been working in partnership to reverse the decline of wildlife, restoring habitats, and ensuring that coordinated nature recovery is embedded in Oxfordshire’s future. Partner organisations span nature conservation, farming, forestry, rural and local businesses, local authorities, education, and community groups.

The LNRS is designed to restore and reconnect the county’s natural environment to build local resilience against flooding and climate change to benefit for generations to come.

Over many months, this partnership has met people, listened to local priorities and crafted a set of targeted actions. These include an innovative, interactive map that guides nature recovery efforts to areas that could become particularly important for biodiversity, offering every corner of Oxfordshire the chance to play its part in this collective endeavour.

Councillor Judy Roberts, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Place, Environment and Climate Action, said: “This is not simply a document – it is a call to action, a statement of hope and a promise to future generations. Together, we will forge the path towards a county where wildlife flourishes, nature is part of our daily lives, and the benefits of a vibrant natural environment are secured for all.

“All local people, organisations and authorities are the delivery partners of the LNRS. There is something for everyone to do whether it’s creating a pond, managing your garden for wildlife, creating habitats at school, creating arable wildflower strips, managing an ancient woodland or reintroducing beavers.

“Let’s recover nature, together – Oxfordshire’s future depends on it.”

The development of the strategy has been a collaborative journey. From the outset, there has been a deep commitment to drawing on the knowledge, passion and vision of Oxfordshire’s local people and organisations.

The engagement process was extensive, culminating in a formal public consultation that generated more than 2,000 responses to the strategy documents and the pioneering mapping tool. The outcome was overwhelmingly positive, with communities, stakeholders and individuals voicing support for the direction and priorities set out in the strategy.

Since the consultation, the LNRS has further developed the documents and map to improve the strategy further and the final version is now live.

Chloe Edwards, Oxfordshire County Council’s LNRS Project Manager, said: “The LNRS is poised to empower communities at the grassroots, offering a powerful framework to direct energy and resources towards habitat and species work where they could offer great benefits.

“By putting this strategy into action, Oxfordshire stands ready to realise the vision of a well-connected, biodiversity rich network of nature – one that is resilient to future challenges, restored not only for the health and wellbeing of people but for nature’s own intrinsic value.”

Richard Benwell, Chair of Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership and CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “Our LNRS is a treasure map, setting a path to make Oxfordshire rich in nature. The strategy is an amazing team effort, but the plan won't happen by itself. Now it’s up to us all to bring the plan to life. 

“Politicians must follow the plan in planning decisions and budgets. Land managers should figure out how their patch can be part of a thriving landscape. Businesses and communities need to step up with investment and commitment.

“Restoring nature is a huge task, but if we keep the spirit of positivity, good science and collaboration alive, it really is possible.”

Nature Minister Mary Creagh said: “I welcome this strategy as an opportunity to create bigger, better and more joined up areas for nature in Oxfordshire, benefitting local communities, alleviate flooding, making landscapes more climate resilient and improving health and wellbeing. 

“This is an important step in the effort to recover nature and support prosperity in the county for the future.”

The strategy is now expected to be used by funding bodies, local authorities, planners and other investors in nature to focus their funding, support and finance towards those locations and actions that could offer the greatest benefits for nature.

To ensure Oxfordshire’s nature recovery ambitions are realised and remain relevant, the strategy is underpinned by a strong commitment to monitoring and evaluation.

Oxfordshire County Council will be responsible for tracking, assessing and reporting on the progress of nature recovery actions across the county. Over the next three to 10 years, in line with government requirements, the strategy and its interactive map will be formally reviewed and republished, enabling adaptation to changing local habitats, evolving community priorities and the latest scientific data.

This ongoing process of evaluation will ensure the strategy continues to deliver real and lasting benefits for people and nature alike.

More information, including the LNRS map, are available on Oxfordshire County Council’s website.

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Resurfacing work is taking place on the road outside the centre during this time and the advice is to not to use the site during those timescales.

Visitors may also be affected if using the B4030 tomorrow morning (Friday, 30 May).  

Resurfacing works are taking place on the B4030 road between Bicester and Middleton Stoney during this time and the advice is to seek an alternative route.

Anybody who cannot avoid this road during these timeframes should expect long delays as 5-10 mph speed limits will be in place along with loose chippings. 

New solar panels are being installed at the centre on Awgar Stone Road as part of the county council’s environmental programme to retrofit zero carbon solutions to 30 of its buildings over the next year.

Fire stations, libraries and family centres are also on the list for green improvements.

Councillor Tim Bearder, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, said: "The climate emergency is everyone’s business and we can all play our part to help make Oxfordshire a greener place to live and work.

“It’s great to see the council’s innovative retrofitting scheme arriving at our adult social care community support service buildings, making our centres fit for the future.”

The solar panels that are being fitted at the Oxford adult day care centre will produce an estimated £2,000 of electricity each year.

It’s part of a wider programme of work estimated to decarbonise approximately 300 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year. That’s about the same amount as a diesel car would produce after driving 18,000 km or the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption from 4784 houses each year.

Councillor Dan Levy, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance with responsibility for property, said: “These programmes alone won’t bring us to our net zero carbon ambitions, but they will help us on that journey. Every bit we can do, we will do, as part of our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint

“By providing Oxford Community Support Service with the ability to capture and save solar energy through battery storage, we are removing fossil fuels from everyday actions, including heating and cooking. And with more buildings in the pipelines for zero carbon upgrades, we’re taking significant steps towards our environmental targets.”

The Bicester Community Support Service’s adult social care centre will be the next to benefit from decarbonisation work, with an air source heat pump, new windows and loft insulation being installed later in the year.

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Last year, Oxfordshire County Council was named by the government as a responsible authority for driving nature recovery. The council is one of 48 authorities who have been funded by the government to work with local people and organisations to develop a local nature recovery strategy (LNRS).  

Comments are now being sought on Oxfordshire’s draft LNRS as part of a consultation which runs until 26 November 2024. The document, maps and online survey are available at the Let’s Talk Oxfordshire website.

Councillor Dr Pete Sudbury, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council with Responsibility for Climate Change, Environment and Future Generations, said: “The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and biodiversity – the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even bacteria – is under threat from pressures including habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, pollution, invasive species, and over-exploitation.

“A good quality environment with a range of species is important in its own right, but also offers people a lot of benefits. Healthy rivers give us clean water, high quality soil grows food well, trees and woodlands improve the quality of our air and regulate local temperatures to keep us cool, and wetlands and floodplains can store water that keeps our homes dry.

“This is why the severe loss of biodiversity in the UK is so alarming, because it will negatively impact us all. Oxfordshire is home to a rich and diverse natural environment, with ancient woodlands, chalk grasslands, wetlands and rivers. But it  is not immune to this threat and without positive action, we will see our ecosystems decline and possibly disintegrate.”  

The LNRS aims to address the loss of biodiversity by working with people and organisations across Oxfordshire to agree a written list of the priorities and actions to support biodiversity. It will also map some of the actions that could support biodiversity onto an online map of the county to help people understand where there are particularly important locations to deliver some work to improve or create habitats to support wildlife.  

The government expects partners in the county to focus future funding opportunities towards achieving these key local biodiversity priorities.   

As habitats are improved, restored, created and connected to benefit biodiversity, they also offer a great range of wider benefits that underpin the health and wellbeing of people in Oxfordshire.

By improving the county’s natural habitats, Oxfordshire can expect cleaner air and water, more carbon to be stored, flood impacts to be reduced, and a healthier environment for future generations.  

Cllr Sudbury added: “We want to hear from a wide range of people and organisations across Oxfordshire as these views will help us to refine and improve the LNRS, to ensure that it reflects the local priorities and opportunities for recovering nature’s biodiversity in the county.”  

LNRS project manager Chloe Edwards said: “You don’t have to be a wildlife expert to give your views. We want to hear from everyone to see if you agree that we’ve got the priorities and actions right for Oxfordshire’s habitats and wildlife.

“This will help the LNRS to focus the recommendations on which habitats to improve and create in Oxfordshire to create a shared vision that could make a significant difference towards recovering biodiversity if people and organisations are supported to deliver those habitat actions within the next 10 years. This will have great benefits for Oxfordshire’s future generations. 

“Responses to this consultation will provide the LNRS team with more information to help prepare and publish the final strategy including opportunities, benefits and measures for nature recovery in Oxfordshire.” 

The LNRS is due to be published in spring 2025. The strategy is expected to provide a framework that people and organisations across Oxfordshire can start using to work together and focus future nature recovery work across Oxfordshire. 

The LNRS development process is led by Oxfordshire County Council in partnership with local organisations including the Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership, the district and city councils, Natural England, the Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Wild Oxfordshire, the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust, the University of Oxford, Community Action Groups (CAG) Oxfordshire and many more.  

Camilla Burrow, Chief Executive of Wild Oxfordshire urged parish and town councils to take part in the consultation, adding: “Oxfordshire’s draft LNRS highlights the priority species and habitats that may need to be included in Biodiversity Action Plans which parish and town councils are making. District councils and Oxford City Council are expected to include and refer to the LNRS priorities in their Local Plans.” 

Katherine Chesson, Director of Community Action Groups Oxfordshire, said: “Dozens of community groups across Oxfordshire are already working to improve habitats for nature’s recovery by creating new ponds, planting hedgerows and orchards, and making wildflower areas in urban environments. This new LNRS for Oxfordshire will give a framework to guide these groups to create more places where people can connect with nature.” 

Estelle Bailey, Chief Executive of the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust, which facilitates groups working to improve wildlife habitats and manages 26 nature reserves in Oxfordshire, said: “People’s comments on the draft LNRS priorities will help us to identify the key opportunities and locations to make more spaces for nature. Linking up and creating more habitats in the countryside beyond our reserves is vital for nature recovery.” 

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In his annual report Ansaf Azhar has called climate change one of most significant threats to the population both in Oxfordshire and globally.

He said: “Our environment significantly influences our health. Recent flooding in Oxfordshire brought this into the spotlight, where some suffered a loss of livelihood and we saw a negative impact on mental health and wellbeing. These events are going to be more common going forward.

“This is why I want to talk about the health impacts of climate change and the positive benefits of climate action for individuals, families and communities.

“The actions that we can all take to improve climate health also immediately improve our health and the health of others.  All of us should to take positive climate action not just because of the environmental benefits realised years ahead, but the health benefits we will get from it immediately.    This means better health for everyone – whether we are talking about newborn babies, children, teenagers, working-age adults or older people.

“Everyone and every organisation has an important role to play. But individuals  cannot shoulder this responsibility alone. We need real structural change and joint partnership actions to mitigate and adapt to our changing climate and to improve health.

“We are already working hard together with partners to address our changing climate – with immediate and longer-term positive benefits for health and wellbeing, but there is still plenty more that we can all do.”

Producing an annual report is a requirement for all directors of public health. The reports look independently at issues which affect the health and wellbeing of the population in Oxfordshire and  make recommendations for improvement.

The report is available to read in full on Oxfordshire County Council’s website.

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Money from the Department for Transport will seed fund a major rollout of infrastructure worth over £10m that will see more than 1,300 public chargers delivered in the county by the end of 2025. The rest of the funding will largely come in the form of investment from the EV chargepoint operators themselves.

Oxfordshire County Council led the application in close collaboration with Oxford City Council and Cherwell, West Oxfordshire, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils.

The programme aims to create a reliable, easy-to-use, contactless EV charging network spanning the county. This will give more people the opportunity to switch to an EV – regardless of where they live or their parking situation – to improve Oxfordshire's environment and air quality.

Councillor Pete Sudbury, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council with responsibility for Climate Change, Environment, and Future Generations said: “This funding will provide a huge boost to Oxfordshire’s growing EV charging network and build on our leadership in this field, removing one of the blocks to EV ownership. One of our top aims is to get reliable, contactless public EV charging into rural and deprived areas, ensuring that nobody will be left behind in the transition to driving electric.”

The programme, known as OXLEVI, will be the largest deployment of public EV charging infrastructure ever seen in Oxfordshire and will treble the amount of public chargers currently available.

The focus will be on standard 7kW chargers that residents without home chargers can use overnight at discounted rates. The new EV chargers network will also provide much needed top-up charging for residents, visitors, commuters and working drivers during the daytime.

The scheme is expected to include the installation of rapid chargers and charging bays suitable for van drivers, disabled drivers and EV car clubs. Most of the new EV chargers will be installed in off-street parking locations such as council car parks, building on the success of the Park and Charge project, which installed 250 EV charging points across council car parks in Oxfordshire between 2021 - 2022.

In line with national policy change, the LEVI funding will see Oxfordshire County Council take on the responsibility to deploy EV Infrastructure on the highway, including delivery of phase two of the Go Ultra Low Oxford project (GULO), which will see a minimum of 100 GULO chargers delivered in Oxford alongside the LEVI chargers.

The county council is also looking to launch a grant scheme to enable parish councils and associations to create community EV charging microhubs by installing EV chargers at village halls and community centres.

Some EV chargers will also be installed on the highway in areas where insufficient suitable off-street car parking is available.

Councillor Anna Railton, Oxford City Council’s Cabinet Member for Zero Carbon Oxford and Climate Justice, said: “This funding will help ensure that electric vehicle charging infrastructure is consistent across both Oxford city and county by aligning it under one countywide approach, while securing the principles set out in the Oxford EV Infrastructure Strategy – with access as equitable, convenient and easy as possible for residents. We are looking forward to collaborating with the county council with their rollout within the city to help meet Oxford’s electric vehicle charging needs.”

Councillor Freddie Van Mierlo, South Oxfordshire District Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Nature Recovery, said: “This investment will complement and expand capacity already delivered by South Oxfordshire District Council in its car parks, which is proving popular, especially in Henley.

“Market towns and rural areas can often lack suitable off-street parking, putting off EV ownership. I’m pleased this scheme is focusing on filling these gaps to better support residents wanting to switch to EVs, as well as supporting parish and town councils.”

Councillor Bethia Thomas, Leader of Vale of White Horse District Council and Cabinet Member for Climate Action, said: “EV ownership is growing in the Vale, recent grants through our Climate Action Fund have gone to EV projects such as charging points in Blewbury and an EV car club in Harwell. For EV use to grow even further, the number of chargers has to increase in readiness, and we should do all we can to facilitate this.”

Councillor Andrew McHugh, Cherwell District Council’s Portfolio Holder for Cleaner and Greener Communities, said: “Supporting environmental sustainability is a key priority to Cherwell District Council and this funding will enable us to improve and expand access to electric vehicle charging across the district.

“Electric vehicles are rising in popularity as more people look to play their part in addressing the challenge of climate change. There’s already a great level of take-up for electric vehicles in north Oxfordshire and I hope that those considering one will be encouraged to do so by our expansion of charging infrastructure and provisions.”

Councillor Andrew Prosser, Executive Member for Climate Change at West Oxfordshire District Council, said: “This latest funding announcement is great news. Boosting the number of publicly available electric chargers and investing in a wider network of charge points is pivotal to helping people transition to electric, while giving those who’ve already made the move more opportunities to charge at a time and place convenient to them.”

Anthony Browne, Technology and Decarbonisation Minister, said: “This Government has a plan to help speed up the installation of EV chargepoints, which we’re getting on and delivering. This dedicated funding to local councils is part of our plan to ensure people can switch from a petrol or diesel car to an EV when they choose to do so.”

Oxfordshire’s councils will shortly be tendering for suppliers to deliver and operate the new public EV charging network and will announce more details of site locations following full feasibility studies later this year.

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Oxfordshire County Council was rated top in Climate Emergency UK’s (CEUK) 2023 climate action scorecard, which was published this week.

Councillor Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s Deputy Leader with responsibility for Climate Change and Environment, said: “Congratulations and thanks to outstanding work by officers right across the council, including our amazing climate team, and for support across the political spectrum for achieving this result.”

For the scorecard, CEUK assessed all UK councils on the actions they've taken towards net zero. The scorecard assessment consisted of up to 91 questions, depending on council type, across seven sections.

Each council was marked against these criteria before the scores underwent a final audit. This work was completed between January and August 2023.

Oxfordshire County Council is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, significantly ahead of the national 2050 target. As well as this, it aims to enable Oxfordshire to become carbon neutral as early as possible in the 2040s.

It is also working in partnership with people and organisations right across the County to make Oxfordshire resilient to a changing climate.

Cllr Sudbury added: “There are two questions we need to keep asking: ‘What would we do if climate really was an emergency?...because it is'. And, ‘How do we keep our citizens safe, and our businesses and institutions working, as the impacts of extreme weather cause increasing damage, both locally and to our global supply chains?'

“These questions are at the forefront of our mind as a council and inform all the decisions we take. It is heartening to see that this work is being recognised.”

CEUK is a not for profit cooperative which has been working with councils and residents since 2019 to share best practice about what councils can do to tackle the climate and ecological emergency and to encourage effective action.

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It is one of 48 councils set to benefit from a £14 million government funding pot, enabling it to work with local communities to develop a tailored nature recovery strategy for Oxfordshire. Local nature recovery strategies will help communities map out the action needed in their area to restore nature, working closely with local stakeholders, from farmers to schoolchildren, to meet the government’s England-wide nature targets.

The county council will work closely with Oxfordshire’s city and district councils, as well as Oxfordshire’s Local Nature Partnership and environmental organisations, to co-ordinate these plans for nature recovery in Oxfordshire.

Councillor Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, said: “This marks a big step forward in turning this pivotal national strategy into action. The natural world is our best protection against climate change and this strategy helps achieve that.

“I’m delighted that we’re able to step up and be the responsible authority for Oxfordshire, capitalising on powerful alliances we’re already building. We all know the vast magnitude of the task and that the time has come for rapid action, strengthening the natural world against the inevitable disruptive impacts of our disintegrating climate system.”

Matt Whitney, Manager of the Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership, said: “For nature to recover, we need to work together.

“We’re delighted to collaborate with so many talented and passionate organisations and people working for nature. Together we can make the new local nature recovery strategy a powerful tool for restoring our natural habitats so that nature and people can thrive together.”

Environment Secretary, Therese Coffey, said: “We depend on nature for everything and now nature really needs our help. Across the country, local nature recovery strategies will enhance wildlife habitats that reflect the wonderful tapestry of nature that exists on our isles.”

The announcement was made on Friday 30 June, the same day the government launched its £25m Species Survival Fund to help drive the action needed to halt the decline in species, which complements the local nature recovery strategies.

The new funding will support projects with grants of up to £3m to tackle habitat loss, safeguard our fragile ecosystems and create nature-rich landscapes full of wildlife-friendly habitats such as grasslands, woodlands and wetlands.

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Oxfordshire County Council’s climate team was successful in the second phase of applications to the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG2). The £630m government-funded grant scheme provides energy efficiency upgrades and low carbon heating to low income households living in fuel poverty.

The HUG2 funding will deliver whole-house retrofit installations to at least 310 properties across Oxfordshire that are not heated by mains gas – instead heated, for example, by electricity, liquefied petroleum gas, coal or oil.

Councillor Mark Lygo, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health and Equalities, said: “Those who live in poor quality housing are more likely to suffer from long-term health conditions such as respiratory illnesses and struggle with fuel poverty. We know that the risk of fuel poverty is, unfortunately, increasing as the cost of living crisis continues.

“Therefore, we hope that the programme will help to expand on and complement the work we are already doing, such as through our Better Housing Better Health service, to make vital home improvements to reduce fuel poverty and improve health conditions.”

Councillor Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, said: “A quarter of carbon emissions in the county come from our homes. The least energy efficient homes not only tend to be more expensive to run but also have a greater carbon footprint as a result.

“However, this retrofitting service will allow residents in energy inefficient homes to get improvements required to not only reduce their fuel costs, but also their carbon footprint, removing the funding barrier for those residents most in-need.”

Retrofitting funding will prioritise insulation first, followed by sustainable heating, including air source heat pumps, and then consider renewable, free electricity generation via solar panels.

The programme is available to residents who own their home or privately rent, do not use mains gas for heating, have a combined household income of less than £31,000, or are on means-tested benefits. Homes should also have an energy performance certificate rating of D or below.

Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, said: “This investment will help thousands of households to heat their homes for less, keep them warm for longer and could save hundreds on their annual energy bill.

“The green energy sector is growing, and this funding will support green jobs and provide the training needed to deliver these vital upgrades to homes.”

For those wishing to find out more, an expression of interest form is available at oxfordshire.gov.uk/retrofit.

Oxfordshire County Council, in collaboration with the districts and city councils, also funds the Better Homes Better Health service. This service supports residents with energy efficiency advice, accessing grant funding and improving access to eligible benefits to reduce fuel poverty and improve health conditions. Residents can call the advice line on 0800 107 0044.

Further information, including eligibility, will be added to Oxfordshire County Council’s website nearer to the project start, in April 2023. The retrofit team can be contacted at retrofit@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Households not eligible for HUG2 grants still have time to see if they can apply for help with retrofitting their properties through HUG1 scheme.

The scheme runs until the end of May and aims to improve poorly insulated homes for low income residents in properties with an EPC rating of D or below. Details are available on Oxfordshire County Council’s website.

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While most items brought to Oxfordshire County Council’s seven household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) can be left free of charge, DIY waste – items such as rubble, soil, fence panels, work tops and sinks – is legally classified as industrial waste and incurs a small charge.

From 1 April, all items currently charged at £1.50 will now cost £2. This covers most waste generated through home and garden renovations, including loft insultation, guttering, decking and fitted furniture. A list is available on the council’s website.

The cost of disposing of bags of plasterboard will rise from £2.50 to £3.50, tyres from £5 to £6, but plasterboard sheets will remain at £10.

Councillor Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, said: “Although we are not legally obliged to accept these items, we like to provide this service as it gives residents a cost-effective way of disposing of their own DIY waste. It’s a cheaper alternative to hiring a skip or a commercial waste collector when dealing with small amounts of waste.

“This is the first time the prices to the public have risen since 2017, despite our own disposal costs increasing. Our prices remain some of the lowest in the country and the money raised goes directly towards offsetting the cost of recycling, treating and disposing of this waste and operating our HWRCs.”

Cash is not accepted, so visitors are asked to ensure they can pay electronically before travelling. If you are unable to pay for items, you will not be permitted to deposit them.

Regrettably, site teams are regularly abused while taking these charges. This will not be tolerated and may lead to refusal of entry and even banning orders. The council asks member of the public to be courteous to staff at all times.

Commercial waste cannot be disposed at the HWRCs. This includes any waste generated by businesses, landlords or charities. Waste also becomes commercial waste where payment is made for the work. Details about how to dispose with this waste can also be found on the council’s website.

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The recommendations of the Street Voices Citizens’ Jury on transport, health and climate change was heard at Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet on 21 February.

Led by, and in collaboration with, colleagues at Oxford University, the jury brought together 16 people broadly who were representative of the population of Oxford to explore issues relating to the question “how can we travel where we need to in Oxford in ways that are good for health and the climate?”

The University identified Headington as their preferred locality as an area clearly with the city but not part of a pre-existing low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) pilot scheme. 

The jury met over four weekends in June and July 2022 and made 41 recommendations. Already 25 of these recommendations have work being undertaken or under consideration. Themes included public transport, active travel, private vehicles and congestion, education and public engagement, and infrastructure.

The list in full is available to read by going to the cabinet agenda webpage.

Councillor Duncan Enright, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Travel & Development Strategy, said: “We welcome the recommendations of the citizens’ jury. Travel, health and climate change are key issues for Oxford residents and will be for years. Many of the recommendations from this jury are already being acted upon and will provide us with crucial guidance to help us shape future policy in a way that reflects the needs of the wider population.” 

Councillor Glynis Phillips, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, said: “The citizens’ jury was an opportunity for a diverse group of local citizens from different backgrounds and circumstances, and with different viewpoints, to have an honest conversation and work together to find solutions to critical issues that impact everyone – in this case transport, health and climate change.

“By working with colleagues at Oxford University, the citizens’ jury is completely independent of the council, which we hope reassures those involved that the recommendations reflect the local population.”

The Citizens’ Jury was supported by an advisory group of practitioners and researchers in relevant fields, as well as local politicians and campaigners. This helped to oversee the legitimacy of the process.

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Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet today adopted the plan, which includes hierarchies of road users and priority for roadworks in line with its Local Transport and Connectivity Plan and its commitment to climate action.

Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said: “We face a huge challenge in meeting residents’ travel needs as the population and associated infrastructure grows, while avoiding the economic damage caused by severe congestion and enabling a zero-carbon Oxfordshire by 2050.

“We have a once in a generation opportunity to make a significant shift away from private car use, towards more flexible working patterns and greener travel choices – reducing pressure on the road network and creating the space for local traffic improvements.

“Essential to achieving our priorities and policies is a transport system that enables the efficient movement of people and goods, while promoting greater use of sustainable travel modes.

“This network management plan explores the challenges that we face and explains how we will manage Oxfordshire’s highways to deliver an effective, sustainable transport system for people and businesses.”

Key objectives of the plan include minimising disruption, providing quality information to the travelling public, supporting active travel, improving journey time reliability, and maximising the effective use of road space.

The user hierarchy prioritises walking and wheeling, cycling, riding and public transport ahead of motorcycles, shared vehicles such as car clubs, and cars, vans, and lorries.

Network management will also make decisions to support road safety, especially following the council’s adoption of the vision zero strategy to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries from road traffic collisions in Oxfordshire by 2050.

There are approximately 30,000 accidents on Oxfordshire’s roads, 1,700 reported injuries – including 300 of a serious nature – and 30 deaths, with a higher proportion of serious incidents than many local authority areas due to a higher amount of rural road links on the network.

The hierarchy for the priority of roadworks is:

• emergency repairs
• works of national importance (such as HS2 and East West Rail)
• county council new and improved infrastructure projects
• digital connectivity infrastructure projects
• large public events
• major utility infrastructure and works
• small scale utilities
• highway maintenance activities.

The county council receives more than 35,000 applications to work on the roads each year – 87 per cent of which come from utility companies – with approximately 600 live sites on the network at any one time.

The county council is responsible for the maintenance of more than 4,500km of roads in Oxfordshire. As in other parts of the UK, the condition of the road network has deteriorated over recent years as government funding has not kept up with need.

The report warns that the potential impact of housing and jobs growth on the county’s transport networks could see traffic on many junctions exceed capacity by 2031, with severe delays on many routes, especially the A34, A40, A338 and A4074.

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Oxfordshire County Council organised last month’s event, which featured representatives from Thames Water, campaigners from the Group Against Reservoir Development (GARD), county, district and parish councillors, water regulator Ofwat, the Environment Agency, researchers from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University and other stakeholders.

Its aim was to bring together groups to discuss the issues and explore sustainable solutions for the county. It was held against the backdrop of Water Resources South East (WRSE) developing a plan for securing future water supplies for the region, and draft water company management plans that are also being developed.

Items for discussion included draft proposals to build a seven square kilometre reservoir between Abingdon, Steventon and East Hanney – plans that have been consistently opposed by Oxfordshire County Council over the last 15 years.

The event was chaired by Councillor Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, who said: “This water summit was a safe space to communicate insights into the pressures driving water usage up and the difficulties involved in the plans to meet that demand. It allowed us to hear all sides of the reservoir debate and we have a whole list of follow-up actions.”

The issue of climate change and the need to develop resilience, safeguarding water supplies against extreme weather events, was a powerful underlying theme, as well as uncertainties around population growth and our ability to reduce water use, which have potentially deep impacts on the need for new supplies.

Cllr Sudbury added: “Climate change is the real wild card here because it involves deep uncertainty, particularly around exactly the extreme events (for example multi-year droughts) that would most threaten water supplies.”

WRSE is currently consulting on its draft regional plan, with Oxfordshire County Council expected to issue its response to the proposals in early 2023.

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The award, in the ‘Clean Air - Projects’ category at the inaugural City Transport and Traffic Innovation (CiTTi) Awards, was given to the councils for their innovative work to provide direct incentives to reduce pollutions while also investing in sustainable transport infrastructure and encouraging people to make positive changes to their travel behaviour.

The two councils introduced the ZEZ pilot to Oxford in February 2022. The first of its kind scheme initially covers all or part of nine streets in the heart of the city centre. Proposals are being developed to extend the ZEZ to a wider area covering much of the city centre. These proposals will be subject to future public consultation.

Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council have worked closely together on planning for the scheme, engagement and communications to residents and partners.

The ZEZ pilot will allow the councils to gain useful insights before introducing a larger ZEZ in the city. Currently, the ZEZ pilot restricts polluting vehicles from entering streets between 7am and 7pm every day.  Zero emission vehicles such as electric cars can be used in the zone free of charge. All petrol and diesel vehicles, including hybrids, incur a daily ZEZ charge of up to £10 unless they have a discount or exemption. The charge varies depending on the emission levels of the vehicle.

A major innovation in operating the ZEZ pilot scheme has been the development of a bespoke online vehicle emission checker, date selector and payment portal.

Councillor Duncan Enright, Cabinet Member for Travel and Development Strategy, said: “The ZEZ pilot is the first of its kind in the UK. It is a highly innovative scheme aimed at significantly reducing air pollution and carbon, improving people’s health and shifting transport away from fossil fuel. It will help encourage people to make positive changes to their travel behaviour, while still maintaining access by car for those who need it.”

Councillor Louise Upton, Oxford City Council Cabinet Member for Health and Transport said: “The ZEZ pilot was a major milestone in our journey as a city to improve air quality and reduce toxic emissions. The pilot follows five years of consultation and working closely with businesses and residents, and is something that we are very proud of. Air pollution is a major contributor to ill health and early deaths which makes dealing with it so vital. I am delighted that the scheme has been recognised for its innovation and importance in helping to clean up our air.”

Similar emissions-based charging schemes such as the London low emission and ultra-low emission schemes and the government mandated clean air zones have a proven record of improving air quality.

 For more information about this release contact Oxfordshire County Council’s communications team on 01865 323870 or email press.office@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Notes

The CiTTi Awards recognises innovation demonstrated by UK organisations in enabling the sustainable movement of people, good and materials through urban environments. They celebrate projects in active travel, congestion reduction, air quality improvement, EV infrastructure and charging, last-mile delivery, mobility, transport planning, fleet management, and road user charging.

The winners were announced at a ceremony in London on 22 November.

New British citizens living in Oxfordshire were offered the opportunity to donate a tree for planting on their behalf or to be presented with one at their citizenship ceremony. This was part of the wider Queen’s Green Canopy programme, first introduced as part of Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee earlier in the year.

Since the start of the programme in February, 825 trees have been donated and 396 collected for planting.

 Councillor Susanna Pressel, Oxfordshire County Council’s Chair, said: “I’m delighted to be planting a tree on behalf of the people of Oxfordshire, especially since this is National Tree Week. The trees come from the citizenship ceremonies in County Hall, which are always moving occasions, particularly this year when we have been donating a tree to each new citizen. With these trees they can ‘put down roots’ either in their own gardens or in our beautiful Oxfordshire countryside.”

Following the wishes of His Majesty The King upon the passing of Her Majesty, the initiative has been extended until the end of March 2023 to allow more people to plant trees in memoriam.

An interactive map has been created by The Queen’s Green Canopy to showcase the planting projects across the United Kingdom until the end of March 2023, giving people an opportunity to be part of this special legacy.

Find out more about getting involved in The Queen’s Green Canopy by visiting the project’s website queensgreencanopy.org

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The proposed new strategy has been developed in partnership with organisations including Good Food Oxfordshire, district and city councils, community groups, local farmers and other food businesses, to improve Oxfordshire’s food system and make it more sustainable, affordable and resilient.

The plans will be going to the council’s cabinet for approval on 24 May and will be adopted by colleagues in district and city councils over the coming months.

Councillor Mark Lygo, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health, said: “Around nine to 14 per cent of our population in Oxfordshire experience food insecurity. The ongoing cost of living crisis means households are facing an average hit of £1,200 to their incomes this year alone. This is disproportionately affecting lower-income homes, with some of the biggest price rises being seen in value ranges and basic items. 

“On top of this, food systems contribute to around 40 per cent of greenhouse emissions. And for example, just one per cent of our food in Oxford comes directly from a local source (51 per cent of the county’s food comes from within the UK, while 48 per cent comes from the EU and beyond).

“Food production plays a vital role in our local economy. Our food economy accounts for one in 10 jobs, and is responsible for 10 per cent of our local economy as a whole. Money spent in local food shops, cafes and production also supports three times as many jobs as the same equivalent spent in national chains.

“A local food strategy will help us develop a localised, sustainable food system. This will help ensure that healthy and sustainable food is affordable and accessible for everyone, help to meet our climate and sustainability targets and improve our food supply resilience. 

“We are proud to be leading the way in becoming one of the first local authorities in England to implement a local food strategy, and this is central to our key priority of tackling inequality across the county. We couldn’t have done this without partnership working so I am really proud that this strategy has been developed with Good Food Oxfordshire and our city and district partners”

Fiona Steel, Good Food Oxfordshire, said: “We are delighted that our local councils have embraced the food strategy and are committed to improving our local food systems. Across Oxfordshire we have an amazing array of community groups, growers and other food businesses, who are committed to a fairer, healthier and more sustainable food system for Oxfordshire. We have a long way to go but we are already pointing in the right direction and working together we can make a real and lasting difference.  We are looking forward to working with local areas to develop food action plans that benefit all members of our communities.”

In 2021, the National Food Strategy stressed the need for local areas to develop their own localised food strategies to tackle the ongoing fragility of food systems in the UK, affordability and the environmental and health impacts of the food we eat.

This is the first phase of the strategy and over the next six months we will be working with the community to develop action plans to deliver our ambitions in the strategy.

The strategy supports the county council’s strategic plan, which sets out its vision to create a greener, fairer and healthier county. It will be delivered through the development of an action plan in each of Oxfordshire’s districts.

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Oxfordshire libraries will be giving away free rolls of food waste caddy liners to residents from Wednesday 8 December.

Although all households are provided with food waste recycling collections by their district council, it is estimated that the food waste thrown away in general rubbish bins that could have been recycled costs Oxfordshire County Council more than £2 million extra a year in disposal costs.

Councillor Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate change and Environment, said: “After making sure edible food is not wasted in the first place, home composting or recycling food waste using the kerbside collection are the next best thing people can do to reduce the impact of waste disposal on the climate. That’s why we are giving away these caddy liners to make it easier for residents at a time when we know that food waste is likely to increase significantly.

“I would urge people to pop down to their local library and grab a roll while stocks last. Reducing the amount of food waste that ends up in general rubbish could save the council millions of pounds – money that would be better spent on other projects to improve people’s lives.”

Recycling food waste costs less than a quarter of the price of disposing of it with general rubbish. General rubbish in Oxfordshire is burnt to generate energy which already reduces greenhouse gas emissions compared to landfill, but recycling food waste doubles the climate change benefit. The recycling process generates green electricity and a fertiliser that is used on farmland across the county.

Each year the council already recycles nearly 25,000 tonnes of food waste – such as vegetable peel, bones, eggshells, plate scapings and used teabags – but it estimates that a similar amount wrongly ends up in general waste.

Residents are also being reminded that Oxfordshire’s seven household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and will close at 3pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. More information, including details of where to find HWRCs, is available at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/recyclingcentres.

More information about how to reduce your food waste and recycle more this festive season – including links to the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, which contains money-saving tips, storage hints, and recipes to make the most of your leftovers – is available online or from the Oxfordshire Recycles’ Facebook and Twitter accounts.

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As part of the annual nationwide campaign, which runs from 20 - 26 September, Oxfordshire County Council, Cherwell District Council West Oxfordshire District Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council and Oxford City Council will be holding a series of green events – both online and in person, including fairs, markets, discussions and roadshows.

This year’s theme is ‘Step It Up’ and focuses on the climate and carbon implications of not recycling correctly, or even at all.

 Recycle Week events in Oxfordshire include:

• Tuesday 21 September: Instagram Live Q&A with Oxford Recycles and Replenish Oxfordshire (8.30am - 9.30am)
• Tuesday 21 September: Thame Market stall (9am - 1.30pm)
• Tuesday 21 September: Oxford Brookes University Activist Fair (10am - 3pm)
• Wednesday 22 September: Henley Eco Business Fair (10am-3pm)
• Friday 24 September: Asda Wheatley Recycling roadshow (8am - 2pm)
• Saturday 25 September: Faringdon Green Day (10am - 2pm)

Councillor Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change Delivery and Environment, said: “The climate emergency is finally at the forefront of the world’s attention, and Recycle Week is a great way of reminding us that lots of people making small, everyday changes can have a big impact on reducing our carbon emissions, as well as the way we use the Earth's resources.

“If we ‘Step It Up’ and recycle everything we can, Oxfordshire could reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by more than 60,000 tonnes every year – the same as taking nearly 40,000 new cars off the road.”

Oxfordshire has recorded the highest recycling and composting rate of any county in England for the last seven years – almost reaching 60 per cent last year – thanks to the great work being done by householders. But the aim is to improve that rate even further by encouraging people to keep what they dispose of in their rubbish bins to a minimum.

Councillor Lubna Arshad, Oxford City Council’s Cabinet Member for Parks and Waste Reduction, said: “This Recycle Week we want to encourage residents in Oxford to learn more about recycling and the impact making small changes can have on the climate. Working together with our partners we have organised a range of different events across the county, which will provide information and resources on what you can do to help reduce waste. I encourage anyone who is unsure about what can be recycled, or who wants to find out more to attend one of these events, or to take a look at our Oxford Recycles on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram over the next week for lots of information.”

Recycling bins with incorrect items included, such as disposable nappies, can contaminate the whole load. If a truck load of recycling is rejected because of contamination, it increases the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by more than 12 tonnes.

To help combat this, Oxfordshire County Council is working with the registration service to provide new parents registering the birth of their child with a box of nappy sacks and a card with information to help them recycle correctly, pass items on, and keep disposable nappies out of the recycling bin. There is also help online for those interested in using real, reusable nappies.

Textiles and electrical items should also be kept out of recycling bins as they can get stuck in the machinery, causing tonnes of recycling to be wasted. In some cases, electrical items have even been known to cause fires, while food waste can also contaminate recyclable items.

Small electrical items which may only need a minor repair can be taken to one of six participating libraries. These are collected by local charities, tested, repaired and sold.

Any Oxfordshire residents unsure about how to, reuse, repair, refill, donate, recycle or dispose of an item should go to the Waste Wizard – the online tool which will help them decide which bin to use, where to take it, or how to avoid having to throw it away at all. More than 40,000 people have already searched for an item since it launched last year.

To make the week really shine, Christ Church, Oxford’s famous Tom Tower is expected to be lit up green during the evenings. This building is already illuminated at night, and the green lighting will use low-energy LED bulbs.

Last year Oxfordshire recycled:

• 24,000 tonnes of food waste
• more than 3,000 tonnes of textiles and small electrical items
• more than 35,000 tonnes of plastic bottles, trays, paper, card, drinks cans and food tins.

However, plenty of these materials still end up in the general waste bins. The more that this can be avoided, the higher Oxfordshire’s recycling rate will go – as will all the associated benefits, such as cutting carbon emissions.

Follow Oxfordshire Recycles on Facebook or Twitter for more information.

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In March 2021, Oxford City Council was awarded £162,500 to develop an air quality community website to help raise awareness of air pollution across Oxfordshire.

The website - which is being created in partnership between Oxford City, Oxfordshire County Council, Cherwell, West Oxfordshire, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse - aims to integrate all relevant air quality related information from all district councils in Oxfordshire under one single site.

Now, residents across Oxfordshire are encouraged to take part in the consultation and share their views on what information they want to see on the future website.

The consultation hosted on Oxford City Council’s consultation portal aims to identify what information residents across the county want to see on the new website to help them find more about air quality.

The information presented on the website will span a wide range of air quality subjects and will be tailored to and for different age groups and levels of expertise. This consultation aims to identify the key issues and best ways to present this information which can at times be complex.

The consultation is asking residents for their thoughts on how they currently engage with air quality related messages, as well as their views on the website including information such as data on current air pollution levels in their area, specific types of air pollutants, and regular news about air quality projects across the county.

 Oxford has been historically subject to poor air quality. It was declared an air quality management area in September 2010 due to high levels of NO₂.

The European Union has set a legal limit for the average limit of toxic nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in towns and cities of 40µg/m3 or below– however, recent studies seem to indicate that there is no safe limit for NO₂.

Air pollution contributes to an increased chance of developing lung cancer, increased risk of heart disease and increases in asthma, coughs and bronchitis.

It is thought that air pollution is responsible for 64,000 deaths in Britain each year – just 18% less than the 78,000 deaths annually caused by tobacco (European Heart Journal, March 2019).

A January 2020, a study from Centre for Cities also found out that at least one in 17 deaths in Oxford is related to air pollution. 

Health experts have warned that there is no safe level of air pollution.

Councillor Pete Sudbury, Cabinet Member for Climate Change Delivery and Environment, Oxfordshire County Council said: “Tackling air pollution and climate change is a huge priority for Oxfordshire County Council. We are now set to implement a series of bold plans to address these, for example by giving people real choices around walking, cycling or using public transport rather than private cars and accelerating the shift to electric vehicles. We are keen to offer residents an easy-to-use source of information on air pollution in their area. We’d like to hear your views about how you’d like to see the data so please offer your comments in this consultation by 5 September.” 

The consultation is open until midnight on 5 September 2021.

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The county council has just submitted a bold funding bid for a third round of the government's Active Travel Grant to help the county’s transport infrastructure recover from the pandemic and offer real quality of life benefits for active, healthy communities.

Councillor Tim Bearder, Cabinet Member for Highways Management at Oxfordshire County Council, said: “Our council has deliberately put forward an incredibly bold bid for active travel schemes for the county that aim to transform lives and our local environment.”

“The scale of the bid means these schemes should benefit the county for the long term; they will allow further upgrades to our county cycle infrastructure and allow us to produce desperately needed holistic plans that will make safe cycling and walking an option for many more residents." 

"We know that government recognises the need to shift our dependence away from single occupancy motor vehicles and I sincerely hope that they are willing to match our ambition so that we can help them realise that change on the ground here in Oxfordshire.”

The main goals are:

• To provide services that enhance the quality of life and take action to reduce the impact of climate change and protect the local environment.

• To tackle inequality, help people live safe and healthy lives and enable everyone to play an active part in their community.

• To deliver schemes already set out in the area-based Local Cycle and Walking Infrastructure Plans.

Three main parts to the bid will be based on developing cycling and walking schemes and an officer-led study for a longer-term Dutch-style cycle-friendly zones for the county. Shortlisted local authorities who submit an expression of interest for the Dutch-style cycle-friendly zones study will receive up £100,000 in additional funding.

The council will be expected to develop plans for cycling and walking schemes a year, four years and ten years ahead. It will also include a plan for a GP prescribing pilot for individual exercise using the new, active travel areas as part of a health plan for residents.

To underline the council’s ambitions and reflect the full scale of investment needed to make a difference to communities, this bid has been put forward for significantly more than the previous allocations in the first two rounds.

This also underlines the scale of the ambition of the county. The bid includes an emerging pipeline of over 169 countywide active travel infrastructure projects worth £500 million that the county council has identified as priorities over the coming years. Some of these are aimed specifically at this bid with others being funded by different means. The list underlines the county’s ambitions and commitment to an active travel transformation in how we make journeys.

This bid is ambitious around key strategic routes to Oxford. These include routes from Eynsham to two area of Botley and Kidlington to Oxford. The funding will set the foundations for future delivery along with delivering investment across parts of the county in a series of other infrastructure schemes including in Berinsfield, Witney, Bicester, Abingdon and Banbury.

The county council welcomes the opportunity to work with Oxfordshire’s active travel interest groups in further developing the future pipeline of active travel schemes and those successful schemes leading up to public engagement and consultation on schemes that could be funded by the bid submitted on 9 August. The government will require local authorities to spend the funding by March 2023.

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Councillor Tim Bearder, Cabinet Member for Highways Management, made the decision today during a formal council meeting after considering feedback from the non-statutory consultation held in June.

Councillor Tim Bearder, Cabinet Member for Highways Management, said: “I’d like to thank all those who have taken part in the debate on the east Oxford LTNs both in the consultation and at this session. No-one doubts our collective aim to address climate change and traffic as an administration. But we have to make the transport system you are using work for you. This needs a holistic, planned, comprehensive approach that results in planned change that gives it every chance of success.”

Residents, the emergency services, visitors and local businesses across Oxford were consulted on proposals for the introduction of a trial of LTNs in the Divinity Road, St Mary’s and St Clements areas 8 - 29 June 2021. Over 2,000 responses were submitted.

The consultation found that residents living in the proposed LTN neighbourhoods particularly in the Divinity Road area (62 per cent strongly in favour) show support for the proposals. Meanwhile, residents in both St Mary’s, and St Clement’s were largely supportive (with 42 per cent each strongly in favour). Feedback from businesses and those outside the proposed LTN areas was generally against the proposals. 

The decision means that council officers will now examine the specific issues and concerns raised in the consultation responses and those who made them. The new consultation that follows will be targeted more specifically to those who identified the key concerns to propose a revised scheme that works for the communities involved.

The decision now means that revisions to the proposed LTNs based on the new consultation planned will return for a Cabinet member decision session later this year.

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The report, released on 24 June, said: “The government has made historic climate promises in the past year, for which it deserves credit. However, it has been too slow to follow these with delivery.”

Among the report’s key messages were: “This defining year for the UK’s climate credentials has been marred by uncertainty and delay to a host of new climate strategies. Those that have emerged have too often missed the mark. With every month of inaction, it is harder for the UK to get on track.”

Councillor Dr Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Climate and Environment, said: “The mismatch between setting out lofty ambitions and not acting at anything like the level necessary is unacceptable. We all know it is easy to say the words, and much more difficult to act, but action is all that matters.

“Kicking the can down the road in the face of a serious threat to our health, wellbeing and economic stability is short-sighted and foolish. This council has pledged real action on climate. The first step is to be clear about the size of the problem, the second is committing to work with and for all of our citizens on tackling it.

“Oxfordshire County Council is committed to taking action at the pace and scale required to play its part in repairing our climate and environment. We need to account for all the emissions for which we are responsible, including from outsourced IT services and road repairs, as well as the climate and ecological impacts of new roads we are responsible for building. At the same time, we need to work with partners and citizens across the whole county to halve emissions by 2030. What we do this decade really matters.

“We recognise that this is an extremely demanding target but it is time we did what is needed, not just what is convenient. Rapid actions on emissions and restoring the natural world are an absolute necessity, not just ‘nice to have’.”

Cllr Sudbury said it was the council’s intention to frame its strategy around the provisions of the draft Climate and Ecology Bill, currently going through parliament. This involves:

• Setting and managing targets to decarbonise its own activities as fast as possible, but at minimum in line with its share of the global carbon budget for 1.5C.
• Addressing the climate and ecological emergencies in tandem – matching emissions reduction with nature protection and recovery.
• Taking full account of its impacts on the planet – cutting emissions and ecological impact wherever they happen.
• Support the development of a ‘circular economy’ – minimising waste and ending the ‘throwaway society’.
• Involving representative groups of citizens directly in decision-making – this is about all of us and our shared home.
• A socially just transition, not leaving anyone behind.

Since its launch in February in Headington, the e-scooter trial by Oxfordshire County Council and partner Voi Technology has proved an overwhelming success. Over 9400 unique users have signed up to use the app-enabled scooters for zero-emission journeys as part of a big investment the council has made in the active travel infrastructure thanks to the Department for Transport’s £2.9 million grant.

Councillor Tim Bearder, Cabinet Member for Highway Management at Oxfordshire County Council, said: “Our electric scooter trial in Oxford with Voi has brought us an exciting opportunity to explore alternative and green transport options for our communities. As a county council, we have set out our continued commitment to addressing climate change and transport innovation is a key part of that. To date, the trial has been a great success with our residents. With the expansion of the trial, many more can now benefit from rapid, green, low cost transport as the city recovers.”

Jack Samler, General Manager at Voi UK and Ireland, said: “Since the trial launched in Oxford, over 22,000 rides were taken with Voi scooters in Headington, replacing an estimated 8,950 short car trips. We are delighted to continue to work closely with Oxfordshire County Council to expand our trial into other areas of the city ensuring more people can adopt this safe, fun and environmentally-friendly mode of transport, ditching short car trips, and creating a healthier and better city for all.”

The trial supports a change in how residents can travel, from private vehicles to zero emission forms including cycling, walking and e-scooters and offers a real option for low cost and socially distanced transport, particularly as the pandemic recovery gains pace.

The expansion of the trial will cover an area of the city in the east, including Marston, Cowley, Hinksey, Iffley, Rose Hill, Barton and Florence Park, with the number of scooters set to increase incrementally from 120 to 200.

Rental scooters can use roads and cycle lanes within the trial area but are illegal to use on pavements. The scooters are also tracked by GPS and regularly serviced. In addition, there will be further slow riding, no riding and mandatory parking areas in the expanded trial area to ensure the safety of riders and other road users.

Recently Voi introduced the ‘end of ride photo’ feature which requires users to take a photo of their parked scooter at the end of each ride. Riders who leave e-scooters parked in a way that is obstructing the pavement and causing an obstacle to pedestrians, strollers or wheelchairs, will receive an email with a warning and an educational message. After the first warning, riders who park their vehicles incorrectly will receive a £25 fine.

E-scooter users must be over 18 and hold a provisional or full driving licence. To ride a scooter, users can download the Voi app, available for free on Apple App Store or Google Play and present a valid driving licence. It costs £1 to unlock the scooter and then 20p per minute of the ride. Voi also offers several subscriptions that allow users to take an unlimited number of rides at a fixed rate. The subscriptions can be purchased in the app.

Voi offers special rates for students and those on low incomes and is currently offering free rides to NHS and emergency service staff under the Voi 4 Heroes scheme, which has so far given over 4,580 free rides to over 200 users in Oxford to date.

Voi continues to collaborate with Oxfordshire County Council to support rider education, amongst other things, by offering incentives and encouraging riders to take Voi’s accredited e-scooter digital traffic school which has trained over half a million users to be safe riders. Both partners also ask the public to report any via Voi’s report a scooter page. Voi has a strict three strike policy and reported riders will receive temporary or permanent bans from the service.

The decision by the county council as Oxfordshire’s transport authority now means the scheme can proceed after it was approved by Oxford City Council’s Cabinet last week as the joint partner in the scheme.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “Tackling air pollution and climate change is a huge priority for Oxfordshire County Council. Not only will the Zero Emission Zone make a difference to the quality of life and health of people living and working in the city centre, we are showing that change is possible as we start to respond seriously with climate action. We can now look forward to a city that will be a healthier and cleaner place for all.”

Councillor Tom Hayes, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Green Transport and Zero Carbon Oxford, said: “Air pollution weakens our lungs and makes it harder to breathe. Dirty air cuts short life and our quality of life, and it's just not on. Giving Britain's first Zero Emission Zone the green light is a game-changer, a way of improving public health but also social justice because it is the poorest citizens who are most affected by toxic air. As the UK's first council to set an air quality target which is tougher and tighter than the government's own, the Zero Emission Zone will help us to provide the cleanest air that Oxford residents will have ever known."

Oxford will be one of the first places in Britain to introduce a ZEZ. The scheme aims to reduce toxic air pollution levels, help tackle the climate emergency and improve the health of residents, workers and visitors in Oxford and beyond.

The ZEZ pilot will restrict polluting vehicles from key city centre streets during the day. Those who drive polluting vehicles into the zone will be charged a fee, with the level of the charge dependent on how polluting the vehicle is.

The pilot is the first phase of the ZEZ. It will allow both councils to gain useful experience and information before introducing a larger ZEZ covering most of Oxford city centre in 2022, subject to further public consultation. It is intended that the restrictions and exemptions applied within the pilot will be the same in the expanded ZEZ. 

The UK Government has already set out its intention for the Arc to be the UK’s fastest growing economic region and a world-leader in sustainability. These principles provide a clear statement of regional intent that embodies local commitment to adopting an approach that results in environmentally sustainable economic growth.

Councillor Barry Wood, Leader of Cherwell District Council and Chair of the Arc Leaders Group, said: “The work that has been done on putting forward this set of principles will allow us to be ambitious and aspirational for the Ox-Cam Arc. These principles will embrace green spaces, housing standards, sustainable transport, energy generation and transmission and water management and conservation.”

Published ahead of work on the Government’s Arc Spatial Framework, which will create a long- term plan to deliver the Arc’s strategic growth and infrastructure needs, the aim for the Environment Principles is for them to inform emerging Arc plans and statements, including local plans, local council activities as well as delivery programmes for bodies operating in the Arc.

The Arc Leadership Group’s Environment Working Group has started work to develop an Environment Strategy. This piece of work will help to set the roadmap and trajectory for delivering the ambitious Arc Environment Principles and the Green Arc. The scope of the strategy is currently being developed in collaboration with a Cranfield University MSc programme, which will map out what the strategy should include, referring to best practice in fast growing regions globally. It is likely that the strategy will take 12-18 months to complete.

Councillor Ian Hudspeth, Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: “The county council has a strong track record of partnership working and is well placed to support this important work via the proposed Environment Advisory Group of the Oxfordshire Growth Board. We can point to many examples of current partnership activity on climate action, including action for net zero carbon emissions, resilience to climate change and renewal of the environment including biodiversity.”

The Environment Principles and the Environment Strategy work will be used to inform the group’s input to the Government’s Arc Spatial Framework, expected to be published in 2022. 

Councillor Bridget Smith, Chair of the Arc’s Environment Group and Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council said: “If we are to double the economic growth in the Arc then we must, as a minimum, be doubling nature and ensuring that we lead the way in zero carbon living and working. 

“I want to say a huge thank you to all of the different groups and individuals who have contributed to these principles and we now look forward to working closely with Government and colleagues locally on taking the next steps. It will include embedding these principles into our planning so we can empower our businesses and residents by giving them better choices.

“If we do this well, we hope that other regions and countries will be looking to the Oxford-Cambridge Arc as the leading place for environmentally sustainable development, just as we look to the Netherlands for best practice in cycling and cycling infrastructure.”

The Environmental Principles can be downloaded here: https://www.semlep.com/modules/downloads/download.php?file_name=2306

Oxfordshire County Council is supporting the national campaign set up by the charity WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme). Throughout the week, there will be tips on making the most of your leftovers, storing food properly, how to shop more effectively by planning your meals, plus the chance to win gadgets that will help you reduce your food waste.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “There really is no downside when it comes to reducing food waste. It saves families money, reduces the amount of rubbish that ends up in our bins to be disposed of, and is the environmentally friendly option. The Food Waste Action Week campaign will highlight small changes we can all make to minimise the amount of food we throw away each week.”

Information will be shared all week on the council’s social media channels – facebook.com/oxfordshirerecycles and twitter.com/oxonrecycles – and people are encouraged to use the hashtag #foodwasteactionweek when they get involved. Residents who get involved by voting in various polls will be entered into a prize draw where they can win gadgets such as:

• Silicone bowl lids to preserve leftovers.
• Bag clips to keep food fresh in cupboards, fridges or freezers.
• Measuring spoons to get portion sizes correct.
• A silicone spatula to scrape all the food out of cans, jars and bowls.
• A magnetic meal planner to plan shopping trips and avoid overbuying.
• A magnetic food storage wheel to show the best way to keep different foods fresh.

Oxfordshire’s district and city councils are also supporting the campaign.

The Replenish Project – run by Oxfordshire’s Community Action Group – will be running some Love Food Hate Waste workshops and activity guides for families, with a prize for people who send in a photo of their activities.

Seventy per cent of all wasted food in the UK comes from our homes – that represents 4.5 million tonnes going to waste.

Every year, 710,000 tonnes of potatoes are thrown away by UK households. If prevented, that would save 330,000 tonnes of CO2 from going into the atmosphere.

Oxfordshire’s Community Action Group is running a challenge throughout the week on Instagram to reduce the amount of food you waste. Its focus is from portion planning to freezing and defrosting safely. Take part by posting a photo relevant to the challenge, tagging them @lfhw_uk, using the hashtag #FoodWasteActionChallenge

Everyone can make a difference, and something as small as saving your leftovers and encouraging friends and family to do the same means you’re doing your part. Visit https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/ to find out how you can get involved, help the planet – and save money too.

The ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ spread is made using yeast extract, a by-product of the beer brewing process and is an early example of recycling and the ‘circular economy’ – where waste products are utilised, rather than disposed of.

Now Oxfordshire County Council is applying these same principles in a completely different area – road repairs and gully cleaning. Over a four year period, the approach could potentially stop 1,000 tonnes of CO2 being emitted and save £4.3 million of council taxpayers’ money. It will also cut the amount of waste that is sent to landfill sites and reduce the amount of new material that is dug out of the ground.

It's difficult to imagine anything useful being salvaged from the dirty water and solid matter – largely silt – recovered by tankers during the process of cleaning gullies. But you’d be surprised.

Oxfordshire County Council contractor Skanska is currently taking part in a trial with the company Combined Drier Technology to reprocess and reuse the waste, thereby reducing the amount that has to be disposed of expensively.

Using purpose-built de-watering bays in the county council’s depot in Drayton, near Abingdon, water is removed and filtered. Depending on the quality, the water can be re-used or discharged into the foul drainage network under a trade effluent discharge consent.

The de-watered gully waste is then dried, allowing it to be screened and graded, recovering as much of the original waste as possible and removing any non-recyclable contaminants. These recycled materials could then potentially be used in highways works as fill material for resurfacing, topsoil replacement, or be fed into the production of recycled aggregates, subject to appropriate material and chemical testing results and stakeholder agreement. During the trial period, this drying and screening is being undertaken at a third-party permitted facility. However, the equipment used is mobile which would allow it to be deployed to the Drayton depot if the trial proves successful.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “This initiative is a great example of the new thinking and commitment that will be needed to meet our climate action goals. We’re pleased to have been able to collaborate on this with Skanska and their supply chain to reduce both costs and carbon emissions with an innovative solution.”

Oxfordshire produces approximately 1,000 tonnes of gully waste annually. If successful, the new methods of dealing with it could save up to £27,000 a year and prevent four tonnes of CO2 being released into the atmosphere.

Despite only being seven months into the trial, refinements are being made all the time. These include plans for the generators – which were previously diesel powered but now use gas-to-liquid fuel – to run on hydrotreated vegetable oil, cutting emissions by 90 per cent compared to diesel.

The Drayton depot is also home to a mobile plant which processes waste generated from repairs to the county’s roads.

One of the by-products of road and path resurfacing – created as a result of asphalt being removed from a surface sub-base – is known as ‘asphalt planings’. Annual maintenance of Oxfordshire’s highway network produces significant quantities of this material, which can be recycled. However, approximately 8,000 tonnes of this are classified as ‘asphalt waste containing coal tar’ (AWCCT), a toxic material which makes it expensive to dispose of safely and difficult to recycle.

But Skanska – through the efforts of OCL Regeneration Ltd, a company within its supply chain – has found a way of treating and utilising the AWCCT and thereby reducing Oxfordshire County Council’s annual hazardous waste costs.

Asphalt planings are transported to the OCL plant at Drayton where they are crushed, graded and then mixed with foamed bitumen, cement and water to form a cold lay asphalt material, which can then be re-used elsewhere in road maintenance. This means that the scheme minimises the use of ‘virgin’ materials to reconstruct roads.

The process also involves treating the material at Skanska’s Horton-cum-Studley recycling site – specially chosen as journey distances were 60 per cent shorter than those for importing virgin materials. All the parties involved maximise carbon savings by making sure every journey between Drayton and Horton-cum-Studley involves full lorries – transporting material to be recycled one way, and the finished product in the opposite direction.

To a large extent, these changes are as much about altering mindsets as they are about amending working practices.

Waste is now being recognised as a potential feedstock for the recycling process, rather than something which needs to be disposed of as quickly and as cheaply as possible – whilst also adhering to legal requirements. And rather than following the carbon-intensive linear pattern – where new, virgin materials are sourced for projects – more thought is given to the use of recycled materials, and planning of up to a year in advance is carried out so that this can be achieved in suitable areas.

Oxfordshire County Council, along with Skanska and OCL Regeneration Ltd, recently took part in a webinar organised by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment to highlight its pioneering work in developing the circular economy.

All these changes, and many more, feed into Oxfordshire County Council’s ambitions to tackle climate change. Last year, the council approved its Climate Action Framework, which set out its plans to make itself a carbon neutral authority by 2030, and to enable Oxfordshire as a whole to become zero-carbon by 2050.

Oxfordshire County Council has finished work on five cycling routes which make up the first phase of the Science Vale Cycling Network project – more than 10km of improved cycle and pedestrian paths that are now open to the public.

The routes link the science and research centres at Harwell Campus, Milton Park and Culham Science Centre with Abingdon, Wantage and Didcot, including Didcot Parkway railway station. To see the network in full, visit the map of the routes.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “The completion of these five cycling routes is great news for this part of the county, and complements the work being carried out in Oxford, Witney and Bicester as part of our active travel programme. Having the infrastructure in place is a huge factor when it comes to persuading people to swap the car for the bike, and the Science Vale Cycle Network is just the sort of project that will make it easier to take the healthier option.”

Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic and the nature of the off-road routes, the work was completed three months before the funding deadline, and route 1 earned a Green Apple Environment Award for minimising carbon emissions and reducing environmental impact during construction.

Some of these environmentally friendly practices included:

• Powering the on-site offices by using solar energy.
• Using sustainable materials, such as locally sourced European oak.
• Reusing excavated soil to minimise waste to landfill.
• Navigating within existing trees, reducing the tree clearance and preventing negative impact on biodiversity.
• Pioneering photo-luminescent technology – i-glo discs – as path markers. They glow brightly throughout the night and use natural light to recharge during the day.
• Using a new sustainable paving, Flexipave, 50 per cent of which is made from recycled tyres. This porous material allows large volumes of water and air to penetrate the surface and promotes water recharge directly into natural aquifers, which hold groundwater. More than 16,000 tyres were used to deliver 7,115 metres of Flexipave, contributing to a carbon reduction of 382,217kg CO2 from surfacing alone.

The project is part of the Science Vale Cycling Network strategy, which supports and enables housing growth near employment sites. The strategy’s vision is for a world-class cycle network enabling users to make safe, efficient, connected journeys by bike, comparable with those found in continental Europe, supporting the growth and investment being made in Science Vale.

The Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) secured £5.1m of funding for the project through the government’s Local Growth Fund. The investment shows OxLEP’s commitment to improving infrastructure and connectivity across Oxfordshire, with the aim of providing greater accessibility, reducing congestion and travel times, supporting jobs and improving the quality of life for people and communities.

The rest of the money came from Oxfordshire County Council, largely from developers’ Section 106 contributions.

Nigel Tipple, OxLEP Chief Executive, said: “The completion of such a significant project – that will have a positive impact on our business community – is excellent news, particularly in a post COVID-19 economy.

“As the local enterprise partnership for Oxfordshire, we will continue to play a vitally important role for the county moving forward, securing investment that enables new opportunities and effective connectivity that will benefit the county’s businesses for many years to come.”

The science and technology parks welcomed the improvement of facilities for existing cyclists and walkers, and those who would now be tempted to take up active travel.

Philip Campbell, Commercial Director of MEPC, which manages Milton Park – home to 250 businesses and 9,000 employees – said: “To officially open this key section of new infrastructure at a time when people are telling us that they would like to travel to and from work using sustainable travel modes is a positive milestone. Thank you to the project teams at the county council, their contractors, and our team for delivering the project. We hope that people enjoy using the new path and it helps to make their commute that little bit easier.”

Jason Stafford, Development and Construction Director at Harwell Campus, said: “The Wantage to Harwell cycle route is important for commuters to and from the Campus, both for our regular cyclists and as a more usable option for new cyclists. We are pleased to work with Oxfordshire County Council in delivering green travel initiatives as part of the Campus’ sustainability drive and the efforts of the Council’s team in enabling the completion of this key project are recognised and appreciated.”

The proposals for the scheme in Witney result from an active travel investment from the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) to increase cycle journeys and improve the wellbeing of the community.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment said: “This is great news for Witney. The funding from OxLEP recognises the ambition of our active travel plans and enables us to build on our existing commitment to accelerate our bold plans for transforming how people travel and how communities are connected. As the Witney area grows, it is vital that this growth is made sustainably so we minimise emissions and car journeys and help the growth be geared to connected and healthy, active communities.”

“Active travel and climate action are at the heart of our plans. We have put forward schemes which will have the greatest impact in terms of air quality, physical activity and environmental benefit. This scheme and that for Bicester are projects which go to the heart of supporting healthy and vibrant communities.”

Nigel Tipple, Chief Executive of OxLEP, said: “As the Local Enterprise Partnership for Oxfordshire, we continue to play a vitally important role moving forward, securing investment that enables and unlocks new opportunities for our many businesses and communities right across the county. We would encourage residents and businesses in Witney to take part in this upcoming process, as this new cycle scheme continues to evolve.”

This scheme will improve sustainable cycle routes across a central corridor in Witney and allow safer pedestrian and cycle journeys, while encouraging a shift away from car use. It will also have far reaching benefits beyond the immediate corridor. It will combine proposed improvements with secured walking and cycling measures in western Witney that together provide a continuous east-west route across the whole town.

A number of supporting measures to slow vehicle traffic and prioritise cyclists and pedestrians will include upgrading crossings to toucan crossings. Proposals also include an eastbound bus and cycle only lane at Corn Street, where general traffic will only be allowed westbound and closure of Holloway Road to through traffic to prevent rat-running. Paths will also be widened to create a safer environment to cycle and walk.

The county council is seeking the opinions of residents, visitors and local businesses before the scheme is implemented. The council is running this pre-statutory consultation survey to understand resident expectations and concerns so the output from the consultation will be carefully examined as the scheme progresses to the next stage.

The consultation opens on 21 January and closes at 23.59 on 11 February.

You can learn more about the plans for the scheme in Witney and examine some frequently asked questions and take part in the consultation on the county council’s website.

Plans to be considered by Oxfordshire County Council are for 104 new secure cycle storage spaces along eight streets between Iffley and Cowley Road from The Plain to Bullingdon Road.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “Feedback from residents in Oxford has outlined that secure cycle parking is one of the key issues that would make a difference in choosing cycling over other modes of local transport. This, combined with other supporting measures included in the recently awarded Active Travel grant, will help to boost rates of cycling in Oxford as part of our commitment to developing a comprehensive cycle infrastructure for the city.”

The need for secure on-street cycle parking in this part of Oxford has been identified by Thames Valley Police in response to a problem with cycle theft in the area.

Secure cycle storage will encourage greater levels of cycling in the area and across the city in support of the goals of the Oxford Transport Strategy to help reduce congestion and emissions. The news comes at the same time as the delivery of the proposals for low traffic neighbourhoods funded by the £2.9 million award by the Department for Transport from its second round of the active travel grant.

Once fitted, the stands will be maintained by the city council on the county council’s behalf. The Streetpod product by the Cyclepods company allows eight bikes to be parked securely in the same amount of space used to park an average sized car – 5m by 1.8m. When used correctly, the front wheel of a bicycle is automatically secured when its frame is locked to the Streetpod stand.

A consultation on the provision of secure parking on the carriageway in these eight streets was carried out in November and December 2020. While there were some objections to the proposals, in general, there was strong support overall for the plans.

Around five on road parking spaces will need to be removed across the eight streets to provide space for the storage areas. Where possible, any space lost will be replaced by alternative spaces close by.

Providing secure cycle parking on the roadside will help remove bikes parked against property boundary walls and signposts which often partially block pavements, creating a hazard for people with visual and mobility issues.

Councillor Constance, Cabinet Member for Transport, will make the initial Cabinet-delegated decision at a public meeting on the proposed LTNs on 21 January. 

The proposed Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ) pilot aims to reduce the city’s air pollution levels, tackle the climate emergency and improve the health of residents, workers and visitors to Oxford and beyond.

So far, 400 responses have been submitted to the final consultation, which opened in November.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment, Oxfordshire County Council, said: “Tackling air pollution and climate change is a huge priority for Oxfordshire County Council. Not only will this project make a difference to the quality of life and health of people living and working in the city centre, we are showing that change is possible as we start to respond seriously with climate action. We can look forward to a city that will be a healthier and cleaner place for all. To get us there, it is important to understand public views on the latest proposals for the pilot zone and I would like to encourage all residents to have their say."

Councillor Tom Hayes, Cabinet Member for Zero Carbon Oxford, Oxford City Council, said: “2021 will be a landmark year in Oxford’s journey to improve air quality and tackle the climate emergency. After first proposing this scheme in 2017, we have worked closely with Oxfordshire County Council to ensure that the scheme is the strongest it can be, while also listening to the views of residents and businesses.

“We know the impact that air pollution can have on people’s health, and the ZEZ will help us make a difference both in Oxford and beyond.

“Now, as we are over half-way through the final consultation on the ZEZ pilot, we want to remind residents that this is their opportunity to share their views on the proposals. I encourage everyone to read the latest proposals and share their views.”

The ZEZ proposals follow increasing focus locally, nationally and worldwide about the harmful impact of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions from vehicles and follows both the city council and county council recognising a climate emergency and making commitments to cut carbon emissions. Transport accounts for about 75 per cent of nitrogen dioxide pollution in Oxford, and 50 tonnes of CO2 are emitted by road traffic in Oxford every morning rush hour.

The ZEZ is part of a wider local transport plan which aims to improve connectivity, reduce emissions and support sustainable growth across Oxford and Oxfordshire. Oxford City Council’s draft Air Quality Action Plan sets a local target of 30 µg/m3 across Oxford by 2025, which the ZEZ will help achieve.

In early 2020, both councils consulted on their Connecting Oxford proposals to tackle congestion and improve public transport connections into and across Oxford. Together the two schemes aim to create a zero emission transport system across Oxford.

The councils consulted on initial proposals for a ZEZ in 2017, published updated proposals in January 2019, and consulted informally on final draft proposals (focused on the Red Zone charging scheme) in January 2020. The two councils began a final consultation on the Red Zone in March 2020, but this was suspended due to the pandemic. 

Reflecting on the feedback from the January 2020 ZEZ consultation, the experience of COVID-19, and the feedback from the temporary bus gates survey last summer, the councils have made several changes to the ZEZ proposals. 

The main change is the proposal for the ZEZ pilot to have exactly the same requirements as those proposed for the subsequent larger ZEZ. This will allow the councils to accelerate the larger ZEZ, delivering greater overall benefits sooner.

The ZEZ would be implemented through a road user charging scheme, which means vehicles used in the zone would be subject to charges, depending on their emissions. Only 100 per cent zero emission vehicles would be able to be used in the zone free of charge. 

Discounts are proposed for certain vehicles and road users including residents’ and businesses’ vehicles and Blue Badge holders. Some of these are transitional discounts, which would only apply temporarily, while others would apply permanently. 

Full details of the plans being consulted on for the pilot zone can be found on the county council’s website.

Have your say:

Responses to this consultation will be reported to the councils’ Cabinets in March 2021 and will inform their decisions about the scheme. 

Please give us your views on this consultation by 17 January 2021, 23:59. There are several ways to respond: 

• Complete the online questionnaire here (preferred) 
• Email us at: zez@oxfordshire.gov.uk 
• Or, write to us at:

Zero Emission Zone 

Oxfordshire County Council.

New Road 

Oxford, 

OX11ND 

A printed version of the online questionnaire is available on request. Residents can call 01865 792422 to request one. 

Officers at the council are seeking approval to submit a full and final business plan to the Department for Transport for the scheme now that new funding has been secured to complete it. This is the latest in a series of plans to invest over £600 million in the county’s infrastructure over the next four years, helping to create and support jobs, develop the local economy and encourage sustainable modes of travel.

The final ST2 project plan makes improvements on the original, including bringing forward the delivery of the park and ride part of the project. The details on the plan are included in a new report to the county council’s Cabinet on 15 December.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment said: “The plans are to accelerate aspects of the ST2 scheme as part of a comprehensive range of schemes the council is developing to enable a sustainable and green economy, especially as the county recovers from the pandemic.”

“This scheme will help deliver real and positive impacts on the lives of local people. It will allow residents to adopt environmentally responsible forms of travel with a particular emphasis on bus transit, as well as a much-improved cycling and walking infrastructure. The ST2 and Housing Infrastructure Fund 2 (HIF 2) schemes for the A40 will offer people a rapid means of travel along the route which with the combined benefits of cleaner air, active travel and reduced congestion.”

The ST2 project was awarded a provisional allocation of £35m from the government’s Local Growth Fund, subject to the submission of an acceptable full business case being submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) as well as a minimum of £5m matching local contribution.

The goal of the ST2, alongside the other complementary investments along the A40, is the development of additional highway space, connectivity and infrastructure to encourage a shift to more sustainable forms of travel. This will allow Oxfordshire County Council to meet its zero-carbon transport network aims.

ST2 will be built to provide a congestion-free route into Oxford from the west for public transport and to the new science park planned for West Oxfordshire. In turn, this, and associated improvements in public transport, will encourage a transfer of trips from private transport to bus, reducing overall congestion levels on the A40 for all vehicles.

The core parts of the scheme include:

• An eastbound bus lane on the A40 from Eynsham roundabout to a point immediately west of the bridge over the Duke’s Cut canal.

• An 850 space park and ride car park located adjacent to the A40 in the Eynsham area with connecting bus services, including a dedicated access junction.

• Significantly enhanced walking and cycling infrastructure to promote these modes of travel.

• Improvements to the junctions of A40 with Elm Place, Cuckoo Lane and Witney Road in Eynsham together with the accesses to the Eynsham Service area and Evenlode pub.

Bringing forward the construction phase of the park and ride site will reduce the construction phase traffic on the A40. It will also allow risks around the diversion of high-value utilities infrastructure to be more readily controlled and mitigated.

It also demonstrates the council’s commitment to external funders to the delivery of the wider A40 investment package.

Another way of achieving this accelerated delivery is a possible integration of the ST2 scheme and parts of HIF2 which will not only provide time saving and reduce highway network disruption but also provide cost efficiencies. Oxfordshire County Council is undertaking work to investigate this opportunity, due to be completed in early 2021.

The good news for Oxfordshire is that additional funds have been granted to meet the higher than expected costs. This includes a £3m City Deal match funding grant from the government, secured by the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and £12m from the Oxfordshire Growth Board.

Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council are providing free parking at Oxford’s five park and ride sites from Saturday 5 December until Sunday 27 December, to support businesses and help reduce congestion. The councils are also asking people who plan to use the service to travel outside peak times if possible.

Councillor Liam Walker, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways Delivery and Operations, said: “I’m really pleased we’ve been able to work closely with Oxford City Council to reintroduce free parking at our park and ride sites. Having this in place proved really popular in August to support the Eat Out To Help Out scheme and it makes sense for us to do the same now to support jobs and local businesses across Oxford during a busy period ahead of Christmas.

“We are keen to play our part in helping to reduce congestion in the city centre during peak times and we have recently been working closely with the Westgate Centre to help achieve this and we will be putting measures in place, which will now be complemented with free parking at the park and ride sites.

“Ultimately, we want everyone to be able to travel around safely, enjoy their visiting experience, and reduce the congestion on our roads and this is a great way to help achieve this. We urge all those planning to visit Oxford over the next few weeks to take advantage of this festive gift from both councils.”

Oxfordshire will be in the high alert level (tier 2) from Wednesday 2 December, when lockdown ends. The government has updated its safe travel advice, including for those walking, cycling, and travelling in vehicles or on public transport. You can read the latest advice online.

Oxford Bus Company, which operates services from the five park and ride sites – Pear Tree, Redbridge, Seacourt, Thornhill and Oxford Parkwa­y – is supporting the initiative by running a '£4.80 per car maximum charge’ promotion. This will mean that any more than two adults in the same car will get their bus journey for free. Children will go for free too.

By making parking free all week at all five sites, Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council also aim to reduce peak-time congestion on routes into the city and around city centre car parks.

All Park and Ride buses are deep-cleaned daily and customers are required to wear a face covering whilst on board, unless they are exempt. Seating is also reduced to ensure effective social distancing.

The bus journey time between Seacourt P&R and Westgate is only 10-15 minutes, even taking into account congestion, given the inbound bus lane on Botley Road. Any risk of exposure to Covid-19 is therefore extremely low, as has been suggested by industry research.

Since July, Government reversed its general advice against using public transport as restrictions on the retail and hospitality sectors began to be progressively released.

Councillor Tom Hayes, Oxford City Council’s Cabinet Member for Green Transport and Zero Carbon Oxford, said: “With Oxford now entering tier 2 restrictions, we are encouraging people who plan to shop here or support our hospitality businesses to think carefully about the best times to do so. Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council, working together, have made parking at our five park and ride sites free from 5 to 27 December inclusive to help people to do that.

“We know people are determined to get behind our local businesses at this incredibly difficult time, and this initiative is a way they can get into the city centre easily, safely, and sustainably by bus or by walking or cycling. Free park and ride parking will also help to unblock Oxford’s congested roads at what are proving to be the busiest times.”

Park and ride sites are also a good stopping off place to cycle or walk into Oxford. Visitors can get on a bus and head into the city centre, or visit Summertown, Jericho, Headington, Cowley Road, or other nearby shops and hospitality venues.

Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council are now asking for views from residents, businesses and visitors on a revised ZEZ pilot proposal after a similar consultation was paused in March 2020 because of the pandemic.

The proposed ZEZ pilot aims to reduce the city’s air pollution levels, tackle the climate emergency and improve the health of residents, workers and visitors to Oxford and beyond.

The need to cut emissions is clear. In January 2020, a study from Centre for Cities found out that at least one in 17 deaths in Oxford is related to air pollution. Oxford City Council’s draft Air Quality Action Plan sets a local target of 30 by 25 – ie 30 µg/m3 across Oxford by 2025. In April 2014, a report issued by Public Health England showed that long term exposure to air pollution in Oxford could be responsible for six per cent of all deaths of people aged 25 and over.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, added: “Tackling air pollution and climate change is a great priority for us. Not only will our plans for a city centre Zero Emission Zone make a difference to the quality of life and health of people living and working in the city centre, but we are also showing that it is possible as we start to respond seriously with climate action.

We can look forward to a city that will be a healthier and cleaner place for all, especially now that the county has moved forward on its commitment to accelerate initiatives such as these plans. The changes we propose are based on the feedback we have received and we encourage residents, businesses and visitors to submit feedback on the final plans in the consultation ahead."

Councillor Tom Hayes, Oxford City Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Green Transport and Zero Carbon Oxford, said: “COVID-19 has forced local government to divert significant focus onto supporting our communities through the toughest time they’ll know. All the while, the city council has kept up our focus on climate breakdown and air pollution, including speeding up Oxford’s Zero Emission Zone.

“I’m thrilled that the implementation of the city centre ZEZ is moving forwards and the scheme’s emissions standards will be the toughest possible. The city has joined together in recent years to develop this ZEZ scheme and we hope for the largest number of responses to our final consultation.”

The ZEZ pilot would be based on a road user charging scheme, which means vehicles used in the zone 7am - 7pm would be subject to charges, depending on their emissions. Only 100 per cent zero emission vehicles could be used in the zone free of charge.

Other vehicles would be subject to the daily charges with the amount depending on the emissions of the vehicle. Discounts are also proposed for certain vehicles or road users during the charging hours (7am – 7pm) including resident and business vehicles within the zone, and for Blue Badge holders.

Under the requirement of the scheme, income raised by the ZEZ may be used to cover implementation and running costs.

The remaining income will be used to help residents and businesses make the transition to zero emission vehicles, and on other schemes that promote zero and low emission transport in the city.

The consultation follows the government’s announcement this week announcing that the sale of petrol and diesel cars will be banned from 2030. Britain is moving closer towards adopting electric vehicles on a wider scale. The ZEZ will go beyond this ambition, with the ZEZ pilot to be introduced in Summer 2021, and on a wider scale in spring 2022.

The councils are now proposing to create a single city centre ZEZ with a single set of requirements, in two steps. Firstly, an area in the heart of the city centre will act as the ZEZ pilot, which will then, secondly, provide learnings for a wider ZEZ to cover the whole city centre in spring 2022, on an accelerated timeline.

The larger ZEZ will be subject to further consultation but its alignment with the pilot zone would allow for clearer emissions criteria and greater support for residents and businesses within the ZEZ area.

The councils have made several changes to the ZEZ proposals after reflecting on the feedback from the January 2020 ZEZ consultation, the experience of COVID-19, the spring lockdown and the feedback from the temporary bus gates survey in the summer. These include:

• Red Zone now explicitly a Zero Emission Zone pilot (ZEZ pilot) for the wider ZEZ, with identical requirements and discounts in both phases – This will allow both councils to develop learnings on implementing the scheme before wider roll out and will allow the wider ZEZ to be accelerated, delivering further air quality benefits more quickly.

• Charges across both the ZEZ pilot and wider city centre ZEZ would be linked to emissions and aligned with national standards – This will help encourage the adoption of low emission and zero emission vehicles, as well as simplifying the requirements for residents and businesses in the ZEZ pilot.

• ZEZ pilot to start Summer 2021 and wider ZEZ to be introduced in Spring 2022.

• Blue badge holder discount extended – This will be extended to include international equivalents.

• Review discount for Blue Badge Holders and disabled tax class vehicles by the end of 2024 - This will consider whether this discount should continue, reduce or stop from 2025 and to address concerns raised about the impact on access for people with disabilities.

• Review zero emission standard for large vans and lorries – This will address concerns about consistency with national guidance and in light of the Ultra-Low Emission Truck (ULET) standard.

• Discounts for certain special vehicle categories – This will address concerns about the availability of alternative options and ensure consistency with national emissions standards including Clean Air Zones and London ULEZ. The ZEZ is part of a wider local transport plan, which aims to improve connectivity, reduce emissions and support sustainable growth across Oxford and Oxfordshire. In 2019, both councils consulted on their Connecting Oxford proposals to tackle congestion and improve public transport connections into and across Oxford.

Responses to this consultation will be reported to the councils’ Cabinets in March 2021 and will inform their decisions about the scheme. 

Anyone can take part in the consultation by visiting Oxfordshire County Council’s website

Further details on the pilot proposals can be found here.

Frequently asked questions on the pilot proposals can be found here.

Notes to editors

The ZEZ pilot covers the area previously known as the ‘Red Zone’ (Bonn Square, Queen Street, Cornmarket, part of Market Street, Ship Street, St Michael’s Street, New Inn Hall Street, and Shoe Lane) and the wider ZEZ covers the previous ‘Green Zone’, which will cover the rest of the city centre.

The above outlines the wider proposed Zero Emission Zone with the pilot zone at the centre.

Other initiatives to cut transport emissions

• Alongside the ZEZ, both councils are introducing supportive measures, to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles amongst residents and businesses both within the ZEZ pilot and across the city. The measures include:
  • Energy Superhub Oxford, which will deliver massive amounts of power for rapid EV charging at key locations around the city, including a public superhub at Redbridge Park & Ride.
  • £128,500 towards testing of low-cost innovative air quality sensors to map air pollution and exposure, £122,500 towards advice for businesses on zero emission delivery and servicing solutions.
  • £500,000 towards electric charging points for hackney carriages and private hire vehicles.
  • £2.3 million towards electric and low emission buses.
• Buses and Oxford licensed Hackney Carriages that drive within the planned ZEZ also have already agreed timelines for zero emissions fleets across Oxford.
• In Oxford city centre, narrow streets, limited road network and the unique historic environment have made finding solutions to the problems of congestion and pollution a high priority. 

The £5.2 million Park and Charge Oxfordshire programme is amongst the first of its kind in the UK and is being delivered by a consortium of local partners including Cherwell District Council and Oxfordshire County Council. Preparation work will begin on Wednesday, 11 November, to convert 12 bays at Bicester’s Cattle Market car park into an electric vehicle charging hub. These will be made available early next year.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “From a climate emergency and air quality point of view, electric vehicles are the future of motoring. Many people want to switch to them but are put off by the difficulties involved in charging them if they don’t have off-street parking. That is why we are so excited by the park and charge project and the opportunity it will give so many people around the county to go electric. We are committed to going carbon neutral as an authority by 2030 and this is helping the county, as a whole, to go zero-carbon by 2050. Innovative schemes like this one, will help create the infrastructure that will make it easier for people to make changes to their lifestyles.”

Supporting the creation of green infrastructure, using low-carbon, energy positive technology is a core principle of the Bicester Garden Town project, with Bicester based company Zeta developing a state of the art charger for the scheme.

Councillor Dan Sames, Cherwell District Council’s Lead Member for Clean and Green, said: "Electric vehicles are set to be more and more common over the next few years and supporting this move is a key part of our commitment for action on climate change. Introducing more opportunities for daytime and evening charging and creating a good electrical charging infrastructure is an essential part of our strategy. Many residents have been asking us to provide electric charging in our car parks, so I'm sure that this will be welcomed.”

With interest in electric vehicle ownership on the rise in the county, one key factor holding people back is the inability to easily charge them outside their home, with an estimated 35 per cent of residents having no access to off-street parking. The new Park and Charge Oxfordshire project offers an alternative solution by providing residents with the opportunity to park for free overnight in council owned car parks, while giving access to top of the range electric charging points.

Zeta CEO, Phil Shadbolt OBE, said: “This project leads the way for electric vehicle charging into the future. These hubs are needed to meet demand as the take up grows. Oxfordshire will be a trailblazer for this technology as we ramp up the production of chargers in Bicester.”

By 2025 an estimated 25,000 battery electric vehicles will be driven on Oxfordshire’s roads. To meet with this demand, a further 23 car parks have been selected for the project in the county, including in Kidlington, Banbury and Bicester. These will be rolled out later in 2021.

The Park and Charge Oxfordshire project has been awarded funding from Innovate UK as part of the government’s investment into British engineering to transform electric charging infrastructure. SSE Enterprise, Urban Integrated UK, the University of Oxford, West Oxfordshire District Council, South Oxfordshire District Council and the Vale of the White Horse District Council are also all supporting the scheme.

Since November 2019, Oxfordshire County Council has been running an experimental traffic regulation order (ETRO) on Walton Street by closing the junction with Beaumont Street to general traffic. The ETRO was brought in after a period of repairs to Walton Street.

The aims of the ETRO are to prevent rat-running traffic by people who do not live in the area, increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians and improve air quality.

The closure is a trial and the county council is continuing to assess how it is performing. A final decision on whether to make the closure permanent or to reinstate the original layout is due to be made by the council by May 2021.  

Whilst the trial closure has delivered a number of positive benefits, there have been some localised concerns, including those around increased traffic on roads in the Walton Manor area.

To address these localised issues, the county council is bringing in some further targeted measures:

• A ban on traffic (except cycles) turning right into St Bernard’s Road from Walton Street.
• A ban on traffic (except cycles) turning right into Leckford Road from Kingston Road.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Environment (including Transport), said: “These measures are intended to allow for a more equitable distribution of traffic throughout the area. However, the county council will again be monitoring the effect of these measures to see whether they are delivering the intended benefits.

“In the longer term, we are keen to see a low traffic neighbourhood brought forward across the Jericho and Walton Manor area to deliver similar benefits across a much wider area of the local community.”

More details on the dates of these changes will follow but they are expected to come into force early in the new year.

These bans on right-hand turns had been proposed shortly after the original road closure, but they require the implementation of a new ETRO. As with any ETRO, there will be a six-month formal consultation period, where residents will be able to submit their views on the proposals.

That’s the message from Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth as the authority’s Cabinet approved its Climate Action Framework on Tuesday, October 13.

The document sets out the county council’s plans to make itself a carbon neutral organisation by 2030, and to enable Oxfordshire as a whole to become zero-carbon by 2050. It acknowledges that the council and the county have adapted to cope with coronavirus, and that some of these adaptations have helped reduce carbon emissions.

Cllr Hudspeth said: “The ‘decade of action’ required on climate change has begun with the COVID-19 pandemic. It has changed our world almost overnight.

“We are experiencing a moment in time at which our pace of learning and appetite for change is rapid. We have adopted new skills and adapted how we live and work.

“It is this ingenuity that we will draw upon as we address the climate emergency. We will ‘build back better’ for a zero-carbon, resilient economy, strong communities and a healthy place to live.”

One of the priorities for the council’s Climate Action working group is to retrofit the county’s streetlighting with highly efficient, environmentally friendly LED (light-emitting diode) streetlights.

Scheduled to take four years to complete, the county council is investing £38m over this period – but is expecting it to lead to savings of more than £75m over the next 20 years. As well as the retrofitting, the £38m will also fund the replacement of 23,000 lighting columns which are nearing the end of their lives.

The move will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide being produced by 70%. Currently, the county’s street lights account for around 7,596 tonnes of CO2 every year – representing nearly 35% of the council’s total emissions.

Oxfordshire County Council, which is working jointly with Cherwell District Council, declared a climate emergency in April 2019. It followed this up with a public commitment in November 2019 to prioritise action on climate change across the council’s decision-making, services and activities.

The Climate Action Framework will affect all aspects of council policy and responsibility, including:

• Replacing its fleet with electric vehicles (EVs) and creating more EV charging points
• Generating its own clean power and buying from green energy sources
• Seeing what services can be delivered digitally
• Promoting active travel such as walking and cycling
• Reducing its demand for energy
• Setting sustainability standards for its suppliers
• Helping schools meet their low-carbon targets
• Maximising waste reduction and recycling.

Cllr Yvonne Constance, Cabinet member for Environment, said: “Oxfordshire has a unique foundation from which to build a zero-carbon future, thanks to our proactive and engaged communities, charities and voluntary sectors; world-class academia; a proactive public sector; and a track record of collaboration on transport and energy challenges.

“The future we are aiming for will not be based on business-as-usual decision-making. Zero carbon is integral to our vision for a thriving county.

“Zero-carbon jobs and future-proofed infrastructure will create a resilient economy and help us achieve liveable, healthy communities.”

To read the Climate Action Framework in full go to https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/sites/default/files/file/about-council/OCC_Climate_Action_Framework2020.pdf

On 13^th October, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet will consider the proposals, taking into account the range of views expressed in the recent bus gate survey and recommendations by county council officers.

The recommendation by the county’s transport planning officers is not to proceed with the two new temporary bus gates at present but to focus instead on other projects which will have major benefits to the city of Oxford.

What is a bus gate?

A bus gate is a form of access restriction that allows only buses, cyclists, emergency vehicles and other limited exempt users to access certain key roads between particular times of day.

Bus gates do not prevent access to areas of the city; their aim is to encourage modal shift to public transport, walking and cycling and to reduce the use of the amount of traffic using the city centre as a through-route.

Bus gates have for some time been in operation in Oxford, including at High Street, George Street and Castle Street.

Proposal to be discussed by Cabinet

The proposal to be discussed by Cabinet is centred around plans to install temporary bus gates at:

• Hythe Bridge Street or Worcester Street, between Frideswide Square and Beaumont Street
• St Cross Road or South Parks Road, between Parks Road and Manor Road

The proposal for temporary bus gates was made early in the summer as part of measures put forward to assist Oxford’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and allow more road space for cyclists and pedestrians.

This was a measure put forward in addition to those Oxfordshire County Council has now successfully implemented to benefit active travel for residents under the first round of the government’s Emergency Active Travel Fund.

The county council invited the public and stakeholders to take part in an online survey on the proposed temporary bus gates which ran between 28 July and 9 August 2020. In total, an exceptionally large response was received, with 7,266 completed surveys submitted. Officers and councillors from Oxfordshire County Council have thanked the public for the responses and the insightful feedback that was gained from them.

Developing other plans

Extensive technical work (including traffic modelling), public and stakeholder consultation is planned over the next few months to progress and refine the proposals in Connecting Oxford for permanent bus gates, a workplace parking levy and specific measures to increase bus services.

Oxfordshire and Oxford City Councils will also progress the Zero Emission Zone proposals which were delayed by Covid-19.

In addition to Connecting Oxford and the Zero Emissions Zone, the county council has extensive plans for sustainable active travel schemes in the next three years, amounting to an investment of £44.5 million. Oxfordshire County is also awaiting an announcement about the next stage of the Government’s Active Travel Fund, which includes the county council’s bid for seven Low Traffic Neighbourhoods for Oxford.

The further schemes include:

• • £9.1m for Botley Road (Growth Deal/National Productivity Investment Fund/Developer Funding)
  • £12.5m for Woodstock Road (Growth Deal)
  • £10.6m for other cycling schemes in the city (Growth Deal)
  • Improvements to the A40 and A44 to assist travelling into the City by sustainable means
  • £339,000 for nine new Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) across the city to be decided this year to remove commuter parking from residential areas, with a further 17 zones in development (From a variety of funds)

Cllr Yvonne Constance, Cabinet member for Environment and Transport said:

“The current priority for the county council is to keep residents safe and to use our resources in a considered, effective and appropriate way to address both the pandemic as well as reducing congestion and improving air quality for Oxford in the longer term.”

“The Cabinet will take into consideration the spectrum of views expressed in the bus gate survey as well as the detailed assessments and conclusions made by county council officers. I can assure residents and all stakeholders that Oxfordshire County Council is wholly committed to improving transport by reducing congestion and emissions and it is important to address both in the most effective ways possible.”

In October, work will start on the first phase of the Bicester A4095 road realignment scheme. The work, funded by Homes England and the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal, is designed to address expected congestion between Howes Lane (A4095) and Bucknall Road, ensuring road capacity keeps pace with the housing and economic development in and around Bicester.

The new road realignment will also help to support the North West Bicester eco-town development, delivering up to 6000 much needed new homes and related community infrastructure.

The scheme has been helped with £23.5 million of funds from the £150 million Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal the Oxfordshire Growth Board agreed with the Government to accelerate the building of already planned housing that requires infrastructure investment to bring them forward.

The first phase of the work will be a bridge under the railway (a rail underbridge) to accommodate the realigned Howes Lane together with a separate underpass through the railway embankment at Bicester. The underpass will open a new route for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders, eliminating the current obstacle of the railway embankment.

The building of both the underbridge and underpass beneath a live railway, the twin track NAJ2 Marylebone to Aynho line, is a specialist and challenging engineering project. This has been achieved through the close and collaborative working, for over a year, on design and delivery of the scheme by key partners of Oxfordshire County Council including Network Rail, Cherwell District Council, adjoining landowners and utility firm Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks.

A brief railway closure over the Easter period of 2021 has been agreed with Network Rail to allow safe insertion of the steel underbridge while minimising disruption to the public.

The work is due for completion by July 2021. Both bridges will deliver the first phase of the A4095 realignment to be followed by the roadworks to complete the scheme; reducing local traffic congestion, improving connectivity and supporting the goal to open the Bicester eco-town and its promise of 6,000 new homes.

Cllr Yvonne Constance, Cabinet member for Environment said:

“Investment in better infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians along with real sustainable travel options is a vital part of our growth strategy. New homes are much needed in Oxfordshire but only in locations where they can be built with sustainable supporting infrastructure.

This work along the A4095 will allow Bicester to grow with real active travel options for future residents to enable it to be healthy and sustainable community.”

Cllr Lynn Pratt, lead member for economy, regeneration and property at Cherwell District Council said:

“The realignment of Howes Lane, and associated improvements for walkers and cyclists have only been possible because of extensive collaboration between Cherwell, Oxfordshire County Council, Network Rail, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and local landowners.

“Delivering this new infrastructure will not only ease congestion in the area but also unlock a vital parcel of land in north west Bicester, enabling the provision of 6,000 homes under the Garden Town scheme.”

The key route carries up to 32,000 vehicles a day on the section between Witney and Oxford and is single carriageway in some sections.

The development is great news for the people of Oxfordshire, allowing the council to improve sustainable travel for residents, communities and business whilst supporting thousands of new homes and jobs.

The sum of £102 million will deliver the Housing Infrastructure Fund 2 A40 Smart Corridor which comprises:

• An extension of the dual carriageway from Witney to the proposed Eynsham park and ride, including improving cycling facilities along the route
• An extension of the A40 westbound bus lane from west of Duke’s Cut canal and railway bridges close Oxford near to the proposed Eynsham park and ride
• A40 capacity and connectivity improvements to widen access at Duke’s Cut canal and railway bridges, extending the eastbound and westbound bus priority lane, prioritising bus rapid transit at this pinch point

The work will increase A40 capacity for all users of the route between Witney and Eynsham, while providing a high-quality, congestion-free public transport, cycling and walking link for travel between Witney, Eynsham and Oxford to encourage residents and travellers to adopt active travel to slash emissions and improve air quality.

The HIF 2 scheme will also deliver capacity and connectivity improvements at the Duke’s Cut canal and railway bridges. This will include an eastbound bus route over the bridges on the approach to Wolvercote and improved cycling facilities, including a link joining the A40 cycle route to the National Cycle Network route 5, along the Oxford Canal.

Users will also benefit from interchange at the planned Eynsham Park & Ride, allowing them to use a bus to and from the site, part of the A40 Science Transit 2 Scheme.

Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Leader of Oxfordshire County Council said:

“The signing of this funding agreement for more than £102m from Homes England is pivotal and will help ease congestion on the A40 giving it a much-needed upgrade to support sustainable growth in West Oxfordshire.

"The A40 is already above capacity severely affecting residents and businesses. The massive improvements we can now deliver with this funding will reduce congestion, improve public transport, making journeys more reliable and shorter and linking this route to the future Eynsham park and ride.”

Cllr James Mills, Leader of West Oxfordshire District Council, said:

“The importance of this funding cannot be underestimated. The A40 has been beyond its capacity for many years and this will help relieve congestion on a key route from Witney to Oxford and beyond.

“It will also form part of an integrated transport strategy involving the planned Eynsham Park and Ride and Hanborough Station which is designed to help with housing and population growth in the future, particularly around Eynsham and the Salt Cross garden village site.”

The National Strategy is the first major review of the country’s food system in 75 years and spans across government and the entire food chain. The strategy contains a set of targeted recommendations, covering three main themes: support for our most disadvantaged children, health a wake-up call; and food sovereignty.

COVID-19 has exposed painful flaws in the UK Food System, especially its effect on the nation's physical and mental health. The strategy seeks to ensure that everybody had access to good, nutritional food while encouraging the country to be more self-sufficient.

Cllr Mark Gray, Cabinet Member for Local Communities, Oxfordshire County Council, said: “The evidence demonstrates that access to good, healthy food in early years helps to prevent health problems later in life. Hunger is also shown to affect the mental wellbeing of young people and their ability to learn. So, we very much welcome this new strategy here in Oxfordshire.

“In Oxfordshire, we are already working hard to develop initiatives to ensure that we can support more and more people in meeting their basic needs with our community food services and more.”

“It’s also clear that we need to do more as a community to be more self-sufficient. Not only for the environmental benefits, but to ensure that we continue to get all the good-quality produce that we all need, and to support our rural communities.”

Work has already started between Oxfordshire County Council, Good Food Oxford, local businesses, Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, voluntary and community sector, catering providers, universities, and City and District Councils on making healthy and sustainable food a defining characteristic of living in Oxfordshire. 

Oxfordshire County Council has also committed to making the council carbon neutral by 2030 as part of its Oxfordshire Climate Action Declaration. 

Cllr Gray continued: “Food systems are currently responsible for 20% of Oxford’s greenhouse emissions – double that of cars in the city. We are actively looking to include food as part of the work to reduce carbon emissions and look forward to the next national food strategy report that proposes a blueprint for a greener food system – one that no longer makes us or our planet sick.” 

Another proposal in the strategy is to extend the Holiday Activity and Food Programme to all areas in England. Cherwell District Council already works with holiday activity providers and community groups to support young people by providing a free healthy lunch or snack with every activity. 

“This is a great model as we know our partners are trusted in the community and know our most vulnerable families. Alongside the lunches, we encourage community lunches and family meal bags where families can cook and learn new skills together. Play:Full is now in its third year and really embedded in the district” said Jon Wild, Community Development Manager at Cherwell District Council.

“We are currently in talks with other local authorities and organisations to share good practice and the Play:Full model which we are very proud of.”

Learn more about the National Food Strategy here.

More information

If you are struggling to afford or access food, find a community food service near you on this map. 

For everyone who wants to eat healthy, local, and good food, learn more from Good Food Oxford here.

Tips, ideas, and resources for families to help you cook, eat well, grow more, and waste less food, Oxfordshire Food Superstars can help. 

Replenish supports Oxfordshire residents to grow and cook nutritious food with zero waste. For information on home growing on a budget, composting at home and tips to save money on food bills read here.

If you want to help others in your community, get involved with local community groups taking climate action across Oxfordshire, including household repair cafes, community gardens, and community fridges, find out more here.

The development is great news for the people of Oxfordshire, allowing the council to improve sustainable travel for residents, communities and business whilst supporting thousands of new homes and jobs.

This sum of £218m (towards infrastructure costs of £234m) will deliver:

• Widening the A4130 from A34 Milton Interchange towards Didcot from single to dual carriageway;
• A new Science Bridge over the A4130, Great Western Railway Line and Milton Road into the former Didcot A Power Station site;
• A new Didcot to Culham bridge between the A4130 and A415; and
• A Clifton Hampden bypass

The new infrastructure not only provides opportunities for sustainable travel along the new routes but enables traffic demand management measures to be implemented elsewhere to prioritise non-motorised traffic, where appropriate. Active travel by walking and cycling has been carefully planned into the schemes and each provides new opportunities to connect areas of employment and housing for those on foot and bike using existing public rights of way.

The funds will enable direct and sustainable access between new and present homes and key employment sites in and around Didcot. The HIF schemes have been identified as essential in Local Plan development to deliver sustainable growth across South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse districts and Oxfordshire County Council has been working in partnership with the two district councils to help enable this necessary infrastructure.

Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Leader of Oxfordshire County Council said:

“The signing of this funding agreement for more than £200m is great news for the sustainable growth ambitions of Oxfordshire. It demonstrates that Government is listening and the recognition that infrastructure is required in parallel to the delivery of new homes. The infrastructure will also be vital to sustainable economic growth and support job creation in an area important to the local and national economy whilst helping to support the objectives of Didcot Garden Town; It’s a significant win for the people of Oxfordshire.”

Sophie White, Homes England’s Director of Infrastructure Grants, said:

“We are committed to working with ambitious local authority partners seeking to meet their local housing needs through delivery of key infrastructure.

Our multimillion-pound funding will resolve much needed improvements to the local road network around the Didcot Garden Town area, whilst unlocking critical housing sites and allowing the County Council to deliver their vision for new homes."

The Housing Infrastructure Fund is helping to deliver up to 300,000 new homes across England by providing local authorities with grant funding for new infrastructure to unlock homes in areas of greatest housing demand. It is administered by the government’s housing agency, Homes England, which works in partnership with ambitious local authorities to help them meet their local housing needs.

A series of bold plans by Oxfordshire County Council, combined with a £2.9m two-stage Government grant, will transform residents’ experience of cycling as part of a move to support active and healthy travel combined with a firm commitment to cutting carbon emissions and air pollution.

The popularity of cycling has soared since lockdown began in March. The council is determined to build on this trend and to ensure that the related reduction in air pollution (which is down by as much as 64% in some parts of the county) is sustained in the future.

Research by market research firm Mintel found that, at the beginning of the year, a third of adults in Britain who didn’t currently cycle said they would consider doing so in the future. The active travel fund will allow Oxfordshire to address some of the key factors that deter people from cycling and encourage more journeys by bike. Current measures include prioritising road space for bikes to improve road safety; improving signage and road markings for cycle lanes; and creating more cycle parking in all market towns and Oxford. The next stage of the funding will include more 20mph zones to improve road safety where residents want them.

What will residents notice?

The first phase of the funding is being concentrated over an eight-week period. The steps taken include:

• More purpose-built cycle parking areas, particularly in market town squares, close to rural bus stops, and at park and rides
• More priority given to cycles, from changes to traffic light timings to prioritise people travelling by bike to adapting the road network to allow more space for bikes
• An upgraded maintenance scheme for cycle paths and cycle routes, with improved signage and route markings

The County Council is also working on an exciting programme of structural improvements to support cycling and walking well beyond the active travel fund. As part of the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan, the county is working with the district and city councils on a series of Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs). Didcot, Bicester and Oxford will be the first locations in the county to benefit from them.

The LCWIPs will mean a cycle network for each town, with numbered cycle routes, including links to villages and towns within easy cycling distance. They will also include measures to improve pedestrian access to the main shopping centres (as well as local centres in Oxford).

Planning work is also well underway for a three-mile cycle path along the B4044 between Botley and Eynsham, while construction of the ‘Icknield Greenway’ has now begun - the cycle route linking Wantage to Harwell business park. Work started on the Icknield Greenway on 26 May and is due to be completed on 16 October. The route is one of six key corridors linking Harwell Campus, Milton Park and Culham Science Centre with Didcot, Abingdon and Wantage, and is part of the Science Vale Cycle Network Project. This major scheme is designed to provide improved facilities for journeys by bike and on foot and to encourage sustainable travel across the area.

Cllr Yvonne Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “The active travel grant will help us get the county back to work, school and leisure. But it is just one part of an ambitious programme of activity to increase cycling, walking and active travel overall.

“Our focus on supporting active transport options through a major upgrade in our cycling infrastructure will improve people’s health and wellbeing whilst helping us as a county attain our goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. It is part of our commitment to creating a sustainable and resilient future for Oxfordshire as we emerge from the coronavirus crisis. We will build Oxfordshire back better.”

The county council is currently spending almost £600,000, through the first part of the government’s emergency active travel fund, in a series of measures to help make journeys easier by bike and on foot and enable people to maintain social distancing. The government requires this money to be allocated to projects in the first four weeks and completed in eight weeks.

Longer term, the county council is now looking at ways to maximise environmental gains with a further £2.4m of government funding, and boosting the uptake of cycling, walking and public transport are at the top of the agenda. Measures being discussed include:

• Three new bus gates in central Oxford to slash city centre congestion, cut air pollution and improve the speed of bus journeys as services recover
• The adoption of school streets (ready for September) to prohibit vehicles around schools at certain times of day to help improve air quality and encourage active travel
• Greater reallocation of road-space for bikes across Oxfordshire
• Further 20mph zones to make journeys safer for those who walk or cycle (Banbury, Bicester & Kidlington, Abingdon, Didcot, Faringdon, Henley, Thame, Wallingford, Wantage and for villages that support them)
• Changes to road junctions to improve safety, especially for those on foot or bike (Banbury & Bicester, Abingdon, Didcot, Faringdon, Henley, Thame, Wallingford and Wantage)
• Electric scooter trials being brought forward from 2021 to this summer as another zero-emission way to travel sustainably

A survey of county councillors was undertaken in May to determine the core priorities for how the active travel funding should be invested to benefit all areas of the county.

Residents are welcome to give feedback on the proposals via the council’s active travel website:

www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/activetravel.

Cllr Yvonne Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment, said:

“The active travel funding will build on our existing ambitious plans for transforming how people travel and how communities are connected.

“Active travel and climate action is at the heart of our plans, and I’d like to encourage everyone to make their comments about how we can target the funding to achieve cleaner and more sustainable travel for Oxfordshire and help transform our lives for the better.”

These fast-track plans are the first part of a wider £2.9m of funding to be awarded to Oxfordshire County Council by Government to improve cycling infrastructure, parts of the roadwork network and footpaths as the nation responds to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the next two months the focus will be on:

• Enhanced maintenance for paths and cycle routes
• New cycle parking facilities across all districts and Oxford
• Changing signal timings to prioritise pedestrians and cyclists
• Restricting hours of loading/servicing in key city centre streets
• Park & Ride upgrades with more room to park bikes
• Freeing up routes for pedestrians only
• Improved signage

A complete list is included at the end of the release.

The goal of this first investment is to address the short-term need to get people back to work, school, shopping and leisure by sustainable means and at a safe social distance. Central government requires the county council to submit a bid by 5^th June.

Following a noticeable increase in levels of walking and cycling across the county during the pandemic, the plans will encourage more residents to choose active and sustainable alternatives to motor transport when they need to travel.

The second phase of funding will be awarded on the commitments in the first phase of funding. The £600,000 will be spent equally across the whole of Oxfordshire and will be based on some of the priorities identified in a recent survey of all 63 county councillors as to how the £2.9 million should be invested.

The second part of the sum worth £2.38 million will plan for longer-term transport upgrades and will look to address more of the specific steps county councillors outlined.

Projects under consideration in the second stage include bus gates in Oxford to prioritise bus travel through the city, more controlled parking zones as well as low traffic neighbourhoods. Across Oxfordshire towns and villages hope for 20mph speed limits, school streets, improved cycle paths and secure cycle parking which will all be considered.

These bold plans are aimed at making cycling, walking and public transport more accessible and will aim to increase road space for non-motor transport.

The funding comes as part of a £250 million Department for Transport nationwide Active Travel Fund, the first stage of a £2 billion investment for Britain’s transport network.

These plans come amid a wider focus on green transport. Oxford County Council, Oxford City Council and bus companies Stagecoach and the Oxford Bus Company are also submitting a separate £50m bid to become Britain’s first all-electric bus city.

In addition, the county council’s Better Deal for Bus Users is a series of four bids to bring in on-demand bus services in rural areas around the county.

Areas served by the new buses could include a service linking villages in the Chilterns along the A4074, a replacement for a service to villages south of Didcot due to expire in 2022 and expanding a voluntary service currently running in Freeland and Hanborough in West Oxfordshire, possibly incorporating the Lower Windrush Valley Area.

Cllr Yvonne Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment said: “This funding will allow Oxfordshire to build on the great enthusiasm we have seen from our residents for walking and cycling as well as the plans we already have to upgrade active travel amid growth across the county.

“We have a series of bold plans including the implementation of school streets to make school journeys safer as well as an ambitious commitment to upgrading Oxfordshire’s cycling and walking network.

“We have a real opportunity here to make a difference; we want to transform the way Oxfordshire residents travel and this funding will enable us to make our county into a place where many more journeys are made by cyclists, who feel safer, and pedestrians, who have improved paths, and where communities and the workplace are connected for a more sustainable future.”

List of changes:

New cycle parking in all market towns and Oxford.

Install dashed markings to inform of cycle lanes including symbols and signs.

Additional cycle parking to support Park & Pedal from Park & Ride sites.

Temporary traffic measures or restrictions to prioritise cyclists and pedestrians.

Additional grass cutting on cycle routes.

Cycle lane refresh - All existing routes where required.

Thornhill park and pedal - extra cycle racks.

Removing A boards from narrow high streets.

Additional cycle parking at Summertown, Headington and Cowley.

Improved cycle route signage on key routes.

Creation of additional road space for cyclists and pedestrians.

Changing signal timings to prioritise pedestrians and cyclists

Limiting hours of loading/servicing in certain city centre streets

Relocating bus stops for agreed social distancing (with bus companies).

Undertake additional grass cutting & vegetation clearance on cycle routes.

As the people of Oxfordshire look to return to work and school during the Summer, cycling and walking will become more important than ever – both offer zero emission ways to travel which will improve health and wellbeing as well as helping to address the need to keep socially distant.

A recent survey of all 63 Oxfordshire County Councillors found that the need to improve cycling infrastructure was a standout priority in terms of how Oxfordshire’s share of the government’s £250m Emergency Active Travel grant fund should be spent.

Amongst other practical and quick to implement measures, such as improving signage and sweeping the busiest paths and cycle lanes, keeping vegetation under control and fixing surfaces feature in our immediate plans of work. This is all part of keeping the network safe to use for cyclists and pedestrians as lockdown restrictions ease but will also hopefully encourage more people to walk and cycle in the long term.

The county council is developing a programme of work for the county’s city, urban, suburban and rural areas.

In each case, the work will pay particular attention to narrower areas that might be widened for greater access. Paths where any surface improvement work will also be identified so repairs can be made. As we work through the programme residents can expect to see more measures like this being prioritised across the county.

Cllr Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “In the coming weeks and well beyond, our cycleways and footpaths will form a vital part of our recovery strategy. They will enable residents of all ages to safely travel to a range of locations. Now that cycling and walking have become so popular, we are committed to enabling residents to continue to cycle and walk as ongoing lifestyle choices.”

If people encounter any issues whilst out walking, cycling or riding on the path network then these can be reported or checked on Oxfordshire County Council’s website. People can report a roadside vegetation problem, as well as other street problems, through our online reporting tool Fixmystreet.

Innovative ideas have been identified by county councillors all over Oxfordshire in response to the Government’s national £250 million cash fund to implement changes to roads and transport networks.

There’s set to be a focus on encouraging residents to walk and cycle, with the county council linking up with district councils, Oxford City Council and other partners on the work. In terms of longer-term recovery, the use of public transport will be encouraged as part of the county-wide strategy.

Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment Cllr Yvonne Constance and Cycling Champion Cllr Suzanne Bartington recently asked all 63 county councillors covering every part of the county for their ideas on what should be done.

Enthusiastic responses were received as the council seeks to make sure that every town and village will benefit from how the funds are invested.

Of the responses submitted, there is particularly clear support for measures including:

• Wider roll-out of 20 mph speed zones where supported by residents
• The introduction of school streets to restrict motor vehicles around schools at certain times of day
• Improved cycling infrastructure such as more cycle-only lanes in every town
• Additional cycle facilities such as more secure cycle racks at rural bus stops

Oxford is already well positioned to benefit from the work done as a result of its Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP), which has identified steps to maximise the uptake in cycling and walking across the city.

Cllr Yvonne Constance said: “The immense challenges of coronavirus have disrupted our transport network. However there are now opportunities to rethink the way we travel and a chance to make strides towards sustainable and zero emission transport. There’s a real chance to do things differently, helping more people to walk, cycle and travel in sustainable ways.

“By working with councillors across the county on adapting our transport infrastructure and options we can alter the way people think about travelling. This could all lead to much-needed improvements in air quality as well as supporting a sustainable recovery from the pandemic.”

“The county council will work to ensure people have access to the facilities and information they will need to take advantage of the adapted infrastructure that is planned.”

Specific steps will be announced shortly - some will be implemented in June, with further changes to be made between July and September.

The precise allocation and terms for the county of the £250 million government fund is still to be confirmed. The county council will work with the district and city councils to use this funding as widely as possible to address the active transport measures under consideration for the benefit of residents.

The sites at Alkerton, Ardley, Dix Pit, Drayton, Oakley Wood, Redbridge and Stanford in the Vale have been extremely busy since they opened at 8.00am this morning but Cllr Constance said it was encouraging that residents had understood the importance of the social distancing measures the Council had introduced.

“We were committed to get these seven sites open and we knew today would be very busy with people bringing in their essential waste. As expected, traffic queues have built up but our residents have played their part by being considerate and adhering to the revised site layouts.

“We know things at the recycling sites will be busy for the foreseeable future, so I hope people will continue to be patient. My main plea to residents is to consider whether they can wait a few days or longer before visiting their nearest site. The more we can stagger waste coming in, the less traffic will queue and the easier it will be for everyone.”

The council asks residents to remember:

• You should only visit the site if you cannot safely store your waste at home.
• Revised opening hours: All sites will open at 8am and close at 4pm to allow them to be cleaned for the following day. Please do not arrive before 8am.
• For an initial period, no hire vans or trailers will be permitted onto sites.
• Vehicle numbers and parking bays are reduced on site, and once the maximum is reached the site will operate on a one-out one-in basis. PLEASE NOTE the potential for long delays and queues.
• Please follow any instructions given by traffic marshals to ensure queues are managed safely
• We will continue to charge for non-household waste brought to sites and this will be by contactless card payment only. If you are unable to pay by contactless means you will not be able to deposit non household waste at the site.
• Residents must self-police and abide by social distancing of two metres from site teams and other residents at all times.
• Site teams will be there for guidance only and will not be able to assist residents in unloading their waste.
• Only one resident is permitted out of the vehicle, unless it is to remove a heavy load which would otherwise be unsafe to remove. Visits are best made by just one person per vehicle.
• In line with Public Health England guidance, residents who are vulnerable, or who are showing symptoms which may indicate coronavirus, should not visit household recycling centres.

Specific rules and restrictions will vary by site. Please refer to the county council website before leaving home to familiarise yourself with these and to avoid frustration and delay:

www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wastereopenquestions

The reopening applies to all Oxfordshire HWRCs: Alkerton, Ardley, Dix Pit, Drayton, Oakley Wood, Redbridge and Stanford in the Vale.

The seven sites will operate with reduced opening hours. They will open at 8am and close at 4pm. The sites will be open seven days a week as long as they are not overwhelmed and can operate safely.

The number of vehicles allowed onto the site will be reduced by approximately 50% to allow for social distancing. This means that queues are highly likely, especially at peak times such as weekends.

Residents are therefore being urged only to visit the site if their trip is essential and they cannot safely store their waste at home.

Government guidance says that trips to a HWRC should only be made if ‘essential’ – that is if the waste cannot be stored safely without harm to health. The Government guidance states: “It would be reasonable for residents to undertake a journey to a HWRC if the waste or recycling could not be stored safely at home or disposed of through other legitimate routes such as a dedicated collection. By this we mean that the waste/recycling could not be stored on their property without causing a risk of injury, health or harm to the resident or other members of their household or harm to public health and amenity.”

Things to remember when visiting the reopened centres: 

• You should only visit the site if you cannot safely store your waste at home.
• Revised opening hours: All sites will open at 8am and close at 4pm to allow them to be cleaned for the following day. The summer evening opening hours are suspended.
• Vehicle numbers and parking bays will be reduced on site, and once the maximum is reached the site will operate on a one-out one-in basis. PLEASE NOTE the potential for long delays and queues.
• Please follow any instructions given by traffic marshals to ensure queues are managed safely
• We will continue to charge for non-household waste brought to sites and this will be by contactless card payment only. If you are unable to pay by contactless means you will not be able to deposit non household waste at the site.
• Residents are expected to self-police and abide by social distancing of two metres from site teams and other residents at all times.
• For an initial period, no hire vans or trailers will be permitted onto sites.
• Site teams will be there for guidance only and will not be able to assist residents in unloading their waste.
• Only one resident will be permitted out of the vehicle, unless it is to unload a heavy load which would otherwise be unsafe to remove. Visits are best made by just one person per vehicle.
• In line with Public Health England guidance, residents who are vulnerable, or who are showing symptoms which may indicate coronavirus, should not visit household recycling centres.
• Residents are requested to ensure all waste is pre-sorted before arriving at site to ensure minimum time on site.

Specific rules and restrictions will vary by site. Please refer to the county council website before leaving home to familiarise yourself with these and to avoid frustration and delay:

www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wastereopenquestions

Oxfordshire County Council has been heartened by the support and respect shown to its refuse collection services. The council respectfully asks during these difficult times that the same level of courtesy and respect is shown to our site teams. Please expect delays along with the risk of being turned away after 4pm irrespective of the size of any queue for entry.

Unsure what to recycle at our HWRCs? Residents can check if a HWRC can deal with their material by using our new online tool Waste Wizard: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/environment-and-planning/waste-and-recycling/household-waste/repair-reuse-or-recycle

You may find that you can recycle some of your goods without having to make the journey to one of our Household Waste Recycling Centres.

Although the council sincerely hopes they will not be needed, residents are reminded that all sites have CCTV and site teams are issued with bodycams. There will be zero-tolerance of abuse and threatening behaviour to site teams and anyone found to do so may be banned from our sites.

Cllr Yvonne Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment said:

“I’d like to thank our residents for their patience in holding their waste for recycling at this difficult time. I would also like to ask the people of Oxfordshire to use the sites with care as they reopen and consider if they are able to store their waste for a bit longer as we all adjust to continued social distancing.”

As the largest council in Oxfordshire, the county council has already taken a strong lead and committed to being carbon neutral by 2030. Achieving that aim will benefit the county’s thriving communities and mean radically changing the way some things are done.

The new 100% electric minibuses can travel up to 100 miles on a single charge and spend the morning and evenings taking children to and from school and the rest of the time they are used as part of the not-for-profit Oxfordshire Comet service.

The are part of a strategy that will see the council replacing as much of its vehicles fleet with zero exhaust emission alternatives as possible. The county council’s Fire and Rescue Service and car pool has also taken delivery of electric alternatives in recent months.

County Councillor Yvonne Constance, Cabinet member for the Environment, said: “It’s brilliant to see more electric vehicles joining the ever-growing zero-exhaust-emission county council fleet.

“These are special vehicles and have been adapted so that people can travel on them regardless of whether they have mobility problems or a disability.

“Our hope is that the mini-buses will be cheaper to run as well as being far better for the environment. We will be looking closely at how they perform but, at this early stage, the feedback from our drivers and passengers is that they are doing well.”

Along with the commitment to being carbon neutral the county council has also signalled its dedication through high-profile sustainable energy projects like Local Energy Oxfordshire, the V2GO charging initiative as well as seeking to reduce the number of miles its staff travel for things like meetings by encouraging flexible working and greater use of virtual meeting technology.

Oxford could also be the first place in the country to be using a fleet of public-transport electric buses after a partnership of Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council, Stagecoach, Oxford Bus Company and Arriva announced it is submitting a funding bid to be Britain’s first all-electric bus city.