Independent Oxford Alliance Responds to Oxford City Council’s Decision on Divisive Transport Policies.

The Independent Oxford Alliance (IOA) is deeply disappointed about the Motion passed by Oxford City Council yesterday evening.

The Motion, which was originally intended to address divisive non-evidence-based transport policies, particularly their unfair impact on poorer members of our community and specific ethnic groups, was tabled by ex-Labour ‘Independent Group’ councillors Ajaz Rehman and Shaista Aziz. 

During the debate on Monday 18th March these Independent councillors presented clear reasons why the Council’s current transport policies are not working for everyone.

However, the IOA express disappointment that the original intent of the Motion was fundamentally weakened by Labour Councillors who requested significant, last-minute amendments. 

The amended motion is now so drastically altered that it fails to achieve its original purpose; addressing genuine concerns raised by Oxford residents.

The Labour amendment diluted the Motion in three important ways.

  • Instead of asking the County Council to ‘cancel’ divisive non-evidence-based transport policies, the City Council is only going to asking that those policies be ‘amended’.
  • Rather than excluding NHS staff and school teachers from the proposed Workplace Parking Levy (WPL), Oxford City Council voted only to ensure NHS and school staff ‘have safe, convenient, affordable travel options’.
  • The City is not going to ask the County to ‘scrap plans for divisive traffic filters, which are not evidence based’ as proposed in the original motion.  It is now going to request that the County Council ‘commit to public and independent evaluation of the traffic filter trials against agreed success criteria before any decision to make them permanent’.

This damaging amendment to a laudable motion is not an isolated incident. It is just another example, among many, where attempts to reflect the majority view of Oxford residents have been utterly disregarded by sitting Councillors.

Chaka Artwell, IOA candidate for Barton and Sandhills, commented ‘There is no escaping the ethnic, and tribal divisions at March’s Full Council meeting, and the lack of real support from the City Council for the people of Oxford, particularly for Oxford’s ethnic and working-class people who are being most affected by these anti-car measures.’

The Independent Oxford Alliance believes that it is crucial to listen to the voices of all residents and to enact policies that are fair and inclusive for everyone. Will continue to advocate for evidence-based transport policies that consider the needs of all members of our community, regardless of their socioeconomic status or ethnic background.

We know that the NHS and schools in Oxford are already losing the fight to recruit and retain staff due to the impact of the LTNs – they need immediate solutions that do not involve long commutes before and after a 12-hour shift.

Our shared experience of the County Cabinet Member for Transport Management making the East Oxford LTNs permanent last October, in the face of strong evidence of the harms they are causing, makes it hard to believe any “public and independent evaluation of the traffic filter trials against agreed success criteria” will be heeded before he, once again, proceeds with his intent to make them permanent.

However, yesterday’s motion to remove the LTN scheme in Oxford demonstrates that Independents are now having a positive and profound impact on local politics.

Independent Oxford Alliance candidate for Rosehill and Iffley, David Henwood, who was watching the meeting from the Gallery, said ‘Labour Councillors have expertly claimed to support the motion while succeeding in securing amendments that take away all its power to make a significant difference. It is obvious that Labour are trying to project a change of heart prior to the election, whilst effectively maintaining their support for restrictive measures. Labour have demonstrated they are not listening to the residents and businesses of Oxford.’

Dr Anne Gwinnett, Chair of the IOA concludes ‘It is imperative that the City Council takes genuine steps to restore citizens’ trust in democracy in addressing the pressing issues facing our city. This is precisely why the IOA exists. Our Councillors (when elected) will listen to the people, look at the evidence and work towards policies that truly benefit all Oxford residents.’


The people of Oxford now have a real choice at the City Council election ballot box.  

2nd May will be Indpendents Day.

Dear Member

We are introducing more regular updates to members, so that you can keep abreast of what we are doing…. Up to now, our best intentions for doing this have been thwarted by the extent to which our relatively small team has been stretched across a myriad of activities. It is hard work being a new political group! And we are sorry that our communications have not been more frequent.

This is about to change…. New skills on our team, coupled with our growing experience and confidence in our role, now enable us to commit to keeping you more well informed. So, this is the first of a new stream of IOA updates.
 

Protecting Democracy in Oxford

As you know, a major part of our Mission is to instigate a return to genuine democracy, putting the majority public voice front and centre in all decision-making.

So, you can imagine how concerned we were when the Government gave Oxford City Council the opportunity to postpone (which really means cancel) the elections planned for this May; even more so when we observed that the Labour leadership of Oxford City Council were keeping very quiet about their intentions.

So, we sprung into action, and this took up a lot of our time and attention in January.
Here is a summary of what happened.

On 18 December, the Secretary of State wrote to all 63 Council Leaders where the council was scheduled to hold local elections in May 2026 and where the council is about to be involved in local government reorganisation.  The letter offered councils the opportunity to indicate if they felt that cancellation of their elections in May 2026 would release essential capacity to deliver the local government reorganisation (LGR).
The deadline for their response was Thursday 15 January 2026.

There was no public comment from Oxford City Council, nor apparently any plans for a full council discussion on the issue. The Labour leadership at City Council appeared to be trying to avoid any debate as to whether or not the elections should go ahead.

This prompted IOA action! 
(All the letters referenced below, can be found on our website at the links provided.)

  • David Henwood, leader of the IOA group on the council, worked alongside other opposition group leaders to try to force a special meeting of the full Council
  • Simultaneously, on 5 January, the IOA wrote a letter to Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council, copied to all other members of the council’s Cabinet, setting out the arguments for holding the elections as planned, and urging the City Council to do the right thing by confirming to the Government that the elections should go ahead. LINK 1
  • As a result, on 6 Jan, Susan Brown confirmed that a special meetong of the city council would take place at 5pm on Wed 14 January, immediately before the Government’s response deadline of 15 Jan.
  • On 9 January, the IOA emailed a letter to every councillor on Oxford City Council, setting out the reasons why elections should go ahead and urging them to use the opportunity, at the meeting on 14 Jan, to influence the decision and ensure that democracy is observed through the elections going ahead. LINK 2
  • When the agenda for the meeting on 14 Jan came out, it was apparent that there was no motion, and therefore no vote, planned for the meeting.
  • The accompanying briefing paper recommended that “Members consider and debate the issues set out in this report in relation to the Oxford City Council 2026 local elections”. This falls far short of the Council reaching a decision, let alone recording in a vote the strength of views.
    We considered this to be totally unsatisfactory – effectively setting the stage for the decision to be taken OUTSIDE the Council chamber.

    So we wrote another letter.

  • On 12 January, IOA wrote to the Council’s Chief Executive, Caroline Green, and the Monitoring Officer, Emma Jackman, raising procedural concerns about the meeting and the lack of a vote, and making specific reference to the Council’s own constitution.     LINK 3
  • Caroline Green (CG) replied on 13 January, arguing that all was OK, and that “there is no decision (key or otherwise) for the council to take”.   LINK 4
  • The IOA emailed both local MPs, Anneliese Dodds LINK 5 and Layla Moran LINK 6, with a copy of our letter to the Chief Executive, pointing out that we had received an inadequate reply, and asking them to get involved.

    Layla Moran’s office responded saying she could not respond to anyone other than one of her constituents, even though we made it clear we were writing on behalf of her constituents in Oxford.

    There was no reply at all from Anneliese Dodds or her office.

  • The IOA responded to CG’s reply on 14 January, challenging several aspects of her argument.  LINK 7
  • CG responded by email on 14 January, assuring us that the response sent to the Secretary of State would “reflect the comments of councillors made in the chamber”; and refusing our request for IOA councillors to “see a copy of the response to be sent to the Minister before it goes”, saying that they could not commit to this “given the timelines involved in terms of a need to reply by Thursday this week”.  LINK 8
  • Meanwhile, our councillor David Henwood, along with other opposition councillors, was still pushing for councillors to have a vote at the meeting. The request was denied again on the afternoon of the meeting.
  • On the afternoon of the meeting (14 Jan), IOA led a protest outside the Town Hall, which was reported in the Oxford Mail and on the BBC.
    Several IOA members observed the meeting from the public gallery.
  • A significant majority of councillors spoke in favour of the elections going ahead, complained at there not being a vote at full council, and asked that their comments be included in the minutes.
  • When the letter was shared with councillors (after it had been sent on 15 Jan) it became apparent that it under-played the strength of feeling of councillors at the meeting, and over-emphasised concerns about capacity issues; and it did not give a clear answer as to whether the elections should go ahead.
    It was a clear attempt to facilitate the Government postponing the Oxford elections on capacity grounds, whilst also being able to say that the letter reported the full council’s preference for elections going ahead.
  • IOA then sent directly to the Minister of State, a letter signed by all four of our city councillors, pointing out that the letter from the Leader of the City Council did not reflect the strength of feeling of the Council, and that it over-stated capacity issues. We further highlighted that three claims made regarding capacity issues were incorrect or illogical.  LINK 9
  • In the accompanying email the IOA requested that the letter be brought to the attention of both the Minister of State, and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, who would be making the decision.
  • On Monday 19 Jan, the Secretary of State wrote to Cllr Susan Brown, pointing out that her response had not been clear whether or not it was requesting that elections be postponed. His letter explicitly stated that he was taking account of her representation “and the other representations I have received” in coming to a final decision.  LINK 10
  • It was later confirmed that Oxford City Council elections will go ahead.

We believe that the energy and persistence we put in to this has contributed to the elections going ahead in May.

Meanwhile, we have also continued to shine a light on other issues, and to prepare for May elections.


Other News:

We are continuing to support the legal action against the County Council against the Congestion Charge, raising awareness where we can, and looking into the reported data and various claims. This included a letter of ours printed in the Oxford Mail on 6 Jan, countering claims about the interpretation of the consultation results, and several other letters on related topics.

David Henwood and Anne Stares, after considerable effort, arranged a visit by Andrew Gant to Littlemore on 22 Jan, for a meeting where local residents were able to ask questions and challenge proposals regarding transport measures.

David Henwood made the national news (The Times, The Daily Mail, Metro) with his approach to fighting crime with Japanese wooden clappers, or hyoshigi. This of course was always designed to draw attention to the increasing crime issues in the local area, and put pressure on the Councils and TVP to take action.

 

Live consultations:

There are two significant consultations currently running.
We encourage you to take a look at these and consider responding; and please encourage others to do the same.

BACK