Oxford’s pilot zero emission zone (ZEZ) launched in February 2022. The ZEZ covers a small area of central Oxford, including Cornmarket and adjacent streets. Motor vehicles can enter the ZEZ, as long as they pay to do so.

A much large ZEZ is planned for 2023 – 2024. The ZEZ expansion would potentially include the entire city centre, including all of the following “perimeter” points: Magdalen Bridge, The High Street, Longwall, South Parks Road, Parks Roads, St Giles, Beaumont Street, part of Walton Street, Worcester Street, Hythe Bridge Street, Oxpens Road, Hollybush Row, Oxpens Road and part of St Aldate’s. Details of this plan on the council website can be found here.

OBAG recognises the need to reduce air pollution in the city – especially in those streets where pollution levels are particularly high. However, we are concerned by several aspects of both the pilot and wider scheme. You can see what the Oxford High Street Association’s concerns were in full here.

Businesses, residents, and visitors to Oxford are encouraged to visit the Zero Emission Zone website, to understand how the scheme will affect them, and to learn more about the planned daily charges.

Find out more.

Oxfordshire County council plans to install bus gates or ‘traffic filters’ - essentially roadblocks to private vehicles - on six main roads across the city in late 2022 – early 2023. These are currently planned for installation in St Clement’s, St Cross Road, Hythe Bridge Street, Thames Street, Marston Ferry Road and Hollow Way, as part of a scheme known as “Connecting Oxford”. Details about this scheme can be found here.

(A scheme to bring forward the introduction of several of these new bus gates in response to the pandemic was abandoned in October 2020. Plans to introduce yet more bus gates, on Cowley Road and Warneford Lane, were also withdrawn in 2021.)

We believe that if implemented, it will become virtually impossible to travel around the city centre using a private vehicle. Most local traffic will instead be diverted via the ring road, potentially causing gridlock.

Find out more.

If implemented, the workplace parking levy is expected to result in Oxford businesses being charged £11.50 per month for each car parking space at their premises. Exceptions may be offered to workplaces with ten parking spaces or fewer. The levy was initially planned to cover Oxford’s eastern arc but more recent plans indicate the levy will be imposed on businesses across the city. Further details about the planned scheme are available here.

We support the principles of the Better Business Act: to change UK law to make sure every single company in the UK, whether big or small, aligns the interests of their shareholders with those of wider society and the environment. Find out more here.

Low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) are intended to create streets with fewer vehicle movements by preventing through-traffic. They aim to create quieter neighbourhoods, and to allow residents to feel safer when walking or cycling. The hope is that, by reducing traffic, LTNs lead to lower emissions and cleaner air for all. 

In reality, it is claimed that LTNs deliver few of their claimed benefits. The council’s own report into the experimental Cowley LTNs indicated that they had resulted in more congestion, slower bus journeys, more traffic on specific “boundary” roads, higher pollution levels than elsewhere in the city – and no meaningful increase in walking or cycling.

See what Reconnecting Oxford had to say about LTNs here.