Traffic Filters Update

Over 100 residents of North Oxford joined us on Monday 25th March to hear a talk from Oxfordshire Liveable Streets on the practicalities of the new traffic filters. The group supports the aims of the scheme but were not involved in designing the policy and the evening aimed to give residents information on how the filters will work in practice. They began with an overview of the likely growth in car traffic in Oxford over the next decade and gave us some of the data on which the County Council has based its assumptions. Regardless of personal views on the scheme, everyone present agreed that we understood how it will work better at the end of the talk.

For residents who were not able to attend, here is a summary of the information given:

• The filters will become active in the autumn of 2024. They consist of cameras that can record car number plates.
• It will still be possible to travel anywhere you wish in the city, but you may need to use up one of your residents 'passes' if your journey means going through one of the traffic filters - in order that you are not fined.
• Over the summer, residents will need to apply to obtain these free passes
• You will need your Vehicle Registration Document (known as a V5C) which must show your current name and address
• Residents in the central city area will be given 100 free passes per year with those living elsewhere in Oxfordshire being given 25 per year. Please see the information leaflet on our website for details of the exact areas and also the hours of operation of the different filters.
• These pass numbers are per person who owns a car registered in their name at an address. So a couple with two cars, each registered in a different name will get 200 per year. One person with two cars in their name will get 100 (ie only one car can be registered for the scheme) and two people with one car registered in the household will also get 100 (for them to share when using the car).
• There are large numbers of vehicles that will be excluded from the scheme and can therefore travel freely across the city without penalties. These include emergency vehicles, taxis, tradespeople in vans and registered carers. But the list is much longer than this so it was suggested that you check out the full list on the website if you are concerned.
• It will be possible to add a vehicle temporarily to the scheme if, for example, you will be needing to go for regular hospital appointments and need to pass a camera.
• Once you opt to use a pass on any one day, you can then use your vehicle all day long to go through any of the cameras - this is designed to encourage people to aggregate trips that require them to drive around the city to several locations.
• The scheme will run for six months initially and may then have some amendments made before probably running on for a further year before a decision will be made as to whether to keep the filters.
• The bus companies have made commitments already to introduce additional services (including to the hospital) as well as offering additional buses on existing routes in anticipation of the traffic moving more freely.

Concerns were raised about some aspects of the scheme and OLS acknowledge that it isn't perfect but felt that the growth in traffic across the city is unsustainable so something needed to be tried. Responses to particular concerns included:

• It is hoped that the Council will review the decision to allow HGVs to pass through the filters. This may be reversed anyway if the ULEZ is expanded since these vehicles cannot readily be electrified and so would automatically be excluded from a ULEZ
• Presuming the scheme succeeds, the aim is for cycle route provision to be physically separated from vehicular traffic to ensure cyclist safety
• New bus options including the previously trialled PickMeUp (which gave flexible route options to individuals unable to use a regular route) should appear once traffic is reduced

We will aim to keep residents notified on the process of applying for passes. In the meantime, it may be a good idea to check that you can find your Vehicle Registration Document for any car that you will wish to register. If you can't locate it, you can contact DVLS for a replacement. They look like this:

Conservation and Sustainability talk at LMH

When: Thursday 9th April 2024
Time: 7.30pm
Where: Lady Margaret Hall, Norham Gardens

The adaptation of Listed Buildings and houses in Conservation Areas to support sustainability and the installation of charging points for electric vehicles are topics of keen interest in our part of the city. Therefore, the St Margaret's Area Society, thanks to the generous hospitality of Lady Margaret Hall, is inviting residents to a meeting to be addressed by City Council Heritage officers and the County Council Zero Emissions Team lead. A similar meeting was held two years ago and was very successful. The presentations at this event should help people to understand the ways in which policies have evolved since then. The speakers will be Shona Carr and Emma Winder from the City Council Conservation and Heritage team and Paul Gambrell from the County Council Zero Emission Vehicles team.

There is no entry charge or need to book. Refreshments will be available after the Q&A which will be followed by the SMAS AGM.

Volunteers needed to tend our green spaces

Burgess Field and the Trap Grounds are two wonderful spaces we have on our doorsteps. They each have very active and attentive leads and committees who work through a list of activities to be done each year. If you are interested in getting involved, do contact Richard Gordon via friendsofburgessfield@mail.classperformance.co.uk.


Wishing everyone a joyful Easter!

WMRA committee