Politicians in Oxfordshire have traded blows over what the Uxbridge by-election result means for the county’s traffic measures.
The Conservative Party’s ability to cling onto Boris Johnson’s former seat, Uxbridge and South Ruislip, in the by-election last Thursday (July 20) has been attributed to the unpopularity of London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s plans to expand the ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ).
The Conservatives’ candidate Steve Tuckwell held onto the outer London constituency by 495 votes and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reacted by arguing that ULEZ was “the reason we didn’t win there”.
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Mr Starmer urged the London mayor to “reflect” on the impact of ULEZ on the by-election.
Oxfordshire County Council opposition leader and Conservative Eddie Reeves has since argued the by-election showed “residents want practical measures, not heavy taxes and crude roadblocks”.
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He said: “I have long said that there is a difference between sensible environmental policies, such as making park and ride free across Oxford, and punishments purporting to green like low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and traffic filters.”
Mr Reeves accused the Liberal Democrats and Labour in Oxfordshire of being “increasingly ideological in their policies” and said the parties “will not yield, however many objections are made to them or positive alternatives put forward in Council meetings.”
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However, county council leader Liz Leffman and deputy council leader Liz Brighouse suggested Mr Reeves was guilty of hypocrisy, as “the LTNs, the zero emissions zone and traffic filters were all in the Conservative Local Transport Plan” which was inherited by the rainbow administration.
In a joint statement, Ms Leffman and Ms Brighouse told the Oxford Mail: "All were planned before the 2021 elections.
“The funding for the LTNs was awarded to the previous administration by the Conservative government.
"Cllr Reeves was a member of the previous Conservative administration.”
Ms Leffman and Ms Brighouse said Mr Reeves was “simply reacting to the collapse of support for the Conservatives across the country”.
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They said: “As we have recently seen in election results in Oxfordshire, there is widespread support in the county for the measures that we are taking to tackle the climate emergency”.
In an interview with The Telegraph, the transport secretary Mark Harper recently urged local authorities to consider scrapping LTNs where they are unpopular.
He said councils should not be “making it difficult for motorists” and said he found LTNs had pitted groups of people against each other.
The LTNs were first introduced in Church Cowley, Temple Cowley and Florence Parks in February 2021, and were later installed in Divinity Road, St Clement’s and St Mary’s in East Oxford.
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The council’s cabinet member for highways Andrew Gant has said the trial of the East Oxford LTNs was disrupted by vandalism and this had made it “harder” to assess the impact of the trial.
He said: “We have encouraged people to share their views with us throughout the trial of the east Oxford LTNs.
“I’m pleased we are giving people another opportunity to offer detailed feedback.”
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To sign up to Ed's weekly Politics newsletter, click here: https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/newsletters/
Ed specialises in writing political stories for the Oxford Mail and The Oxford Times.
He joined in the team in February 2023, after completing a History undergraduate degree at the University of York and studying for his NCTJ diploma in London.
Ed’s weekly politics newsletter is released every Saturday morning.
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