A political row over Oxford’s proposed congestion charge has escalated, with Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds and senior Labour councillors responding to criticisms from the transport chief at Oxfordshire County Council, according to our Local Democracy Reporter Esme Kenney.
The temporary £5 charge is set to be introduced on October 29, applying to car drivers using six designated roads without a permit. The scheme was approved earlier this month despite 74 per cent of consultation respondents opposing it.
Councillor Andrew Gant, the county council’s cabinet member for transport management, published an open letter accusing Ms Dodds of providing a “highly selective, partial and misleading” account of the scheme.
In a joint open letter of response, Ms Dodds, Oxford City Council leader Susan Brown, and county Labour group leader Liz Brighouse described Mr Gant’s remarks as “very surprising” and criticised elements of the charge.
Ms Dodds argued that up to £1 million of revenue being allocated to free Park and Ride fares should instead be directed to measures helping Oxford residents directly.
She also claimed that the charge was not mentioned in Liberal Democrat campaign literature before the May local elections and criticised the council’s reliance on “10,000 Oxford residents switching their car journeys to cycling without funding any extra infrastructure improvements to make cycling easier and safer.”
Mr Gant, in his original letter, defended the charge as vital to reducing congestion and improving safety. He argued that Labour councillors’ calls for new pedestrian-controlled crossings “would [cause] unacceptable delays to bus services” and that their opposition to the congestion charge amounted to “opposing safer routes to school for children.”
In response, Ms Dodds wrote: “In your letter you bizarrely accuse us of wanting to induce injuries to pedestrians and prevent new crossings by opposing your scheme. You know these claims are untrue and we are therefore disappointed to see them in your letter.”
She added: “There is huge disquiet about the division that has been produced by different travel schemes, especially when these have been imposed from outside. This concern transcends whether people [are] in favour of more or less active travel.
“The only way to heal these divisions is for local people to be listened to. We will continue to argue for this sadly as the county council so far has not been listening to local communities when it comes to this scheme.”
Mr Gant has maintained that the policy will deliver significant benefits, including less congestion, better bus services, and safer roads.
