Green Party councillors have said it is “not a good look” for Oxford City Council that the Lord Mayor of Oxford was sent to a climate conference on a plane.

Labour councillor Mark Lygo became the centre of a Twitter storm during the weekend when he posted a picture of himself flying from Gatwick to Oxford’s French twin Grenoble for the 'Les 48h du Climat' climate conference.

Resident Tony Brett, whose biography says he works in IT at Oxford University, replied: "Flying to a Climate conference that's a pretty easy train journey @MarkLygo?"

READ MORE: City council defends sending Lord Mayor to climate conference ON A PLANE

Oxford City Council defended Mr Lygo, stating it is a “very low mileage” council and said “we send him by air because it's quick, and the meeting is important”.

Green Party councillors in the city have hit out at the Labour Mayor and the council’s dedication to the climate crisis.

Green group leader Chris Jarvis said: “The journey from Oxford to Grenoble is not that long and as we understand it there were not many other clashes in his diary which meant he would need to take a plane.

“It is not a good look when you have got the Labour run city council saying that they want Oxford to be a leader on the climate crisis, then their Lord Mayor is flying to a climate conference they could easily travel to by public transport.”

Dick Wolff, sheriff, Green group deputy leader and shadow member for transport, culture and communities, said: “It does not look good, does it? Going to a climate conference by the most fossil fuel generating mode of transport possible. I think if a Green councillor did something like that there would be howls of outrage.

He added that, as the Mayor represents the city, “if the Mayor decides to fly when you can go by train, that is Oxford city doing it”.

He explained: “At the end of the day a council is accountable to its electorate – you get the council the electorate votes in and that is where the ultimate accountability lies.

“This invites the electorate of Oxford to think about who is serious about addressing climate change.”

READ MORE: Lord Mayor called out for not getting train to climate conference

A statement from Oxford Greens noted that Green Lord Mayor, Craig Simmons, chose to visit Oxford's European twin towns by train.

It said: “Whilst the Greens acknowledge that flying is sometimes the only option, the Lord Mayor's calendar shows no other events planned around the 20/21st March so the small amount of additional time required to travel by train would not have impacted on any public engagements in Oxford.”

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