Like many of you, I have lived in Oxford for years: I was educated here and have seen our city change and evolve. When I first arrived, a fresh faced undergraduate at Lady Margaret Hall some 35 years ago, our city and community had real vibrancy, buzzing with many independent shops and theatres, serving both the city and its wider population of 700,000. The city had spirit.
Chatting to my friend Jeremy Mogford – a local business owner and resident – I realised a disheartening truth: Oxford’s well-being is under threat from the very people we elected to protect it.
Jeremy, who has lived in and around Oxford since 1975, building many of the city’s favourite businesses, including Browns, the Old Parsonage & Old Bank Hotels, Quod & Gees, currently employs 220 people through the Oxford Collection.
Over the last four years, he and I have witnessed the County Council’s Transport Policy, under the direction of Councillor Gant, take the city in the wrong direction, throttling access and blocking the arteries that are the life blood for Oxford. And they are now scheming to lock down Summertown and Walton Manor.
Jeremy highlighted that the Council’s LTNs, Bus Gates & Zero Emission Zones and the threat of a further 6 traffic filters (a euphemism for road blockages and traffic jams), have actually made the city more congested. The pollution levels around Wolvercote and Cutteslowe are at record highs, and they will continue to grow as the County Council forces more and more cars into fewer roads. Their poor decisions include allowing the closure of the Botley Road for more than 3 years, causing untold misery and economic damage.
The Council’s ideological and evangelical anti-car policies are damaging the economy and the lives of residents and visitors. Millions of pounds have been wasted on unnecessary road projects and could have been better spent on the genuine needs of Oxford and Oxfordshire.
More and more of you are coming up to me to have similar conversations and it is becoming evident that our city of Oxford has declined under the stewardship of the current alliance of the Liberal Democrats, Greens and Labour County Councillors. Everyone can see for themselves the empty shops and neglected streets. For businesses, a mood of pessimism is in the air, and a new direction is required.
As Jeremy says, there is an urgent need for change. He has noted: “I think the future of our wonderful city should now be in the hands of those who actually live and work in the city, those who really care about the people around them. I have been very impressed with Mark Beer and many of the other ‘Independent’ candidates. Their new, fresh, practical common-sense approach gives me huge confidence for the future.”
For these kind words, I thank him. And to you, as a member of our local community, I pledge to do my utmost to help bring back that Oxford spirit and nourish the well-being of Summertown and Walton Manor.
Best,
Mark
