Elections 2021: Lib Dems promise pedestrianised Oxford city centre

Mr Gant said the party would provide a joined-up, or 'holistic', approach if it came to power after results are tallied, and claimed the Lib Dems were the only party which had a chance of winning a majority in both city and county council elections.

He said: "There is only one party that can genuinely claim to win control of both and that is the Lib Dems. The Conservatives have no presence in the city and Labour is centred around its traditional city seats on the county council.

He added: "One of the key offers we are making to the electorate is that we have an opportunity here to elect the whole of the city council and the whole of the county council. We think that policy has been severely blighted by the lack of co-ordination between these two."

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The long and detailed Lib Dem city council manifesto includes the pledge to embed the Climate Crisis in all decision making, a similar promise to the party's manifesto for the county elections.

It also includes a promise to pedestrianise the entire city centre, support transport plans like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, to investigate new long term measures to end homelessness, build homes in better places, and help tourism recover from Covid.

Climate Crisis

On the Climate Crisis Mr Gant emphasised how the Lib Dems plans across Oxfordshire tied into one another, with manifestos written in tandem for elections in Oxford, West Oxfordshire and the county council elections.

As part of this, he said the Lib Dems would look to pedestrianise large swathes of the city centre, something his party has previously alluded to with a suggestion to pedestrianise St Giles, mimicking Barcelona's Las Ramblas.

The famous St Giles Fair in Oxford first day...Picture Richard Cave 4.09.17.

Mr Gant argued this would not only prevent emissions, but could be used as an opportunity to actually 'green' the streets with pocket parks.

He said: "We certainly believe the historic city centre should be moved in the direction of pedestrianisation and the time has come to be bold about this."

On transport, the Lib Dems are backing schemes like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, which could be used to reduce car usage in the city, but only after what the manifesto describes as 'genuine, wide-ranging community consultation and engagement'.

Housing and homelessness

The Lib Dems have also promised to investigate new ways of tackling homelessness, including setting up a social lettings agency.

This is aimed at removing the barrier people looking for a rented home often face if they are on benefits and has been put to practice in Bath and Bristol, as well as other parts of the UK.

The Lib Dem leader said: "This is a inventive, progressive and radical idea to try to and fill that transitional gap between being in homeless accommodation and being back in mainstream accommodation."

He added: "Many landlords are reluctant to take tenants who they regard as less than ideal, but this will help to solve that problem."

ELECTIONS 2021: The candidates for Oxford listed

And on housing more widely, the Lib Dem manifesto for the city also includes a promise to undertake a review of Oxford's Green Belt

Parts of this protected land has been developed for housing in recent years and people living in the city and villages nearby are worried about the impact on their lives and the environment.

Mr Gant said: "The council has safeguarded too much land for employment use and it could accommodate more housing inside of its own borders. We have used the Botley Road shed businesses as an example of that."

The Lib Dems believe that the 'shed businesses' at Botley Road retail park should be reused as housing land in future instead of for continued out of town shopping.

Tourism in Oxford

Summertown councillor Mr Gant said the Lib Dems would also promise to do more to help Oxford's visitor economy recover from Covid.

This would include providing cash for the reopening of a new visitor information centre in Oxford, which lost funding from the city council several years ago.

And it would also include more practical steps, like a solution to coaches parking on residential streets in North Oxford after dropping off tourists.

Mr Gant said other cities like York and Bath, with similar medieval street plans to Oxford had coach parks, a model which he said could be coped through the use of the city's existing park and rides.

He added: "It just incredible that a city like Oxford does not do that."

Lib Dem group leader Mr Gant was elected to the council in 2014, and became the opposition leader two years later.

Outside of his work as a county councillor he lectures at St Peter's College and is an accomplished musician.