13/08/2026
Wouldn't it be wonderful to have clean air and less pollution in our national parks? If cities can have all electric buses, so should we!
Oxfordshire now leads UK on clean air, claims the partnerships director at Climate Emergency UK. Isaac Beevor said that while clean air and a decarbonised transport system were seen as the realm of London and Labour, Oxfordshire County Council (LD, originally in coalition with the Greens) now leads the way.
Beevor cites Britain's first zero emission zone (in conjunction with Labour's Oxford City Council), electric buses, and the introduction of school streets & low-traffic neighbourhoods, with none repealed, delivered against the background of a vocal minority and conspiracy-theory-laden social media.
He criticises other bodies saying "the response of the national government, and all of the regional mayors, who have failed to take any decisive action in the past three years to clean up our air and decarbonise our transport, pale in comparison to Oxfordshire."
In a parting shot he urges councils to go further – zero emission delivery zones, workplace parking levies, increasing and expanding parking controls to dissuade shorter car trips and recognising that the street is public space, not a private car park.
