? Addressing the Climate Emergency

The climate emergency isn’t a distant problem. With flooding and heatwaves now a common occurrence in our city it is now on our doorstep. Alongside this, the UK is now one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth.

Oxford has a small but important part to play in addressing these crises. Under pressure from the Green Party, the city council has committed to go ‘net zero’ by 2030. But progress could be much quicker and we need to do more to defend nature in our city, as well as giving more people better access to green and outdoor spaces. And while transport is primarily a county council responsibility, the city council is a key stakeholder and plays a leading role in delivering some transport projects, and thus should be working to make the system more sustainable.

A Green Party run city council would:

● Utilise the city council’s investments to put money directly into renewable energy – with a preference for community owned energy schemes.

● Increase the amount of ‘biodiversity net-gain’ developers are required to deliver when building to 20%, with stricter requirements for this to be undertaken locally.

● Move towards eliminating the use of glyphosate by the council.

● Subject the city council’s carbon reduction to independent verification to improve transparency and credibility.

● Fund improvements to our parks, including upgrading play equipment, outdoor gyms and other park infrastructure.

● Improve the availability of recycling points across the city for items not covered by regular curbside collections.

● Work to develop a more circular economy in Oxford, including by supporting the repair sector in the city.

● Commit to ‘Vision Zero’ – the eradication of deaths and serious injuries on our roads; making Oxford a safer, healthier place

● Work to increase electric shuttles to deliver goods in the city and reduce the number of HGVs within Oxford.

● Lobby Oxfordshire County Council to improve bus services within the city and make them more affordable, including through using the powers now given to it by the Bus Services Act – exploring establishing a municipal bus company or bringing the private bus operators under public control (commonly known as franchising).

● Support the continuation of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods which have had a demonstrably positive impact on pollution, traffic levels and road safety.

● Support the temporary congestion charge and the long-term plan for traffic filters in order to reduce congestion in the city, speed up buses and enable people to travel more sustainably.

● Provide support for car-sharing schemes, peer-to-peer lending schemes; and installation of more electric chargers, including in new developments.

● Maintain Oxford City Council’s support for the Cowley Branch Line.

● Increase the amount of secure bike parking in the city – including in new housing developments.

● Increase the number of trees planted across Oxford – both on streets and in our parks and green spaces.

● Explore solutions through which we can keep tourist coaches out of the city in order to move towards more sustainable tourism within Oxford.

● Introduce more bike parking on streets across the city, and establish a proper parking system for hire bikes and e-scooters.

● Expedite the roll-out of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, including the Gul-E scheme.