Oxford: 'Taskforce' may challenge traffic filter plans

Oxford hotelier Jeremy Mogford has hit out at Oxfordshire County Council for coming up with an “unwelcome cocktail of restrictions”, which he believes will “irreparably damage the economic and cultural vibrancy of Oxford forever”.

Traffic filters, which are intended to reduce traffic levels in the city, will be trialled on six streets in Oxford once Network Rail’s work to improve Oxford rail station is completed and Botley Road is reopened - expected to be in autumn 2024.

The filters will be trialled on St Cross Road, Thames Street, Hythe Bridge Street, St Clement’s, Marston Ferry Road and Hollow Way and are part of the county council’s plan for reducing congestion and improving bus journey times.

Mr Mogford, the owner of Old Bank Hotel in High Street and Old Parsonage Hotel in Banbury Road, accused senior county councillors such as Andrew Gant and Duncan Enright of “fostering” the “completely inaccurate notion that our city is so congested it’s impossible to travel from one part to another”.

He said: “We all know Oxford is not gridlocked day and night.

“Oxford does not even have the traditional ‘rush hour’ found elsewhere because most of its offices exited the city long ago for alternative premises on the periphery of the city”.

Traffic filters in Oxford (Image: Ed Nix)

Mr Mogford has offered the council to lend his help by putting together a taskforce which includes “Oxford citizens, business people, and experts” who will “look at traffic build up hotspots throughout the city” and will “take a common sense approach to trying to improve the flow”.

Mr Mogford told the Oxford Mail his suggestion for a “special taskforce” to be set up came due to his belief that “a simpler, more sensible, low-cost solution to perceived individual traffic build-ups around the city” should be found.

In an attack on the county council's cabinet members, who agreed to the traffic filters trial, Mr Mogford said: “They live many miles outside and are voted in their positions by constituents who do not live in Oxford.

Congestion in Oxford (Image: Oxford Mail)

“The fact that one or two of them may have been an undergraduate in Oxford in their late teens and early twenties does not qualify them with the necessary knowledge to legislate 20 to 30 years later.”

Mr Mogford’s intervention comes after Conservative councillor Eddie Reevs told the Oxford Times that business owners and residents were now living in a “climate of fear” and were afraid to challenge the county council.

Councillor Duncan Enright, Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for travel and development strategy said: “As many people will recognise, Oxford’s streets were not designed for the volume of traffic they carry today.

"Making the best use of the city’s constrained road network is an exceptionally complex challenge that the county council has been focusing on for many years.

"The council’s planned measures are the answer to freeing up space in the city centre, cleaning the air we breathe, getting our bus services moving and making walking and cycling the natural first choice.

“Our specialist officers have met recently with the Oxford Business Action Group to discuss concerns about highways and retail and we are very happy to meet again with the group and other businesses to listen, discuss ideas and explain our plans to improve movement around the city.

“We are aware of many factors impacting on businesses as we make the slow path to recovery after the pandemic, in economic terms and as consumer activity has shifted towards more home working and increased online shopping.

"These challenges are being felt across the county and indeed across the country so cannot be attributed solely to a particular transport strategy.

"What is clear is that congestion is not good for business. 

"We value the vibrant business community in Oxford and are listening to their feedback as we introduce measures to tackle the chronic traffic in the city that affects everybody.”

Mr Enright continued: "I have lived in Oxford city in many places, including Cowley Road, Hollow Way, Wolvercote and the city centre since I lived here in the early 1980s.

"What's more since moving to Witney, I still work in the city like many of my neighbours.

"The perspectives of the surrounding area matter in Oxford too - as I point out when I talk to Jeremy Mogford when he pulls my leg about it.

"His businesses depend on us all being able to travel around Oxford and that's what I am working to do. I'll keep talking to him about his ideas (and he is welcome to come to Witney too)."