The political parties

Who controls the County Council?

The Liberal Democrats and Greens are currently in a coalition that runs the council as a minority administration. Between them they have 23 of the 63 seats. The Conservatives have 19, Labour 14, various independents 7 and Henley Residents Group 1. For the 2025 elections, following boundary changes, there will be 69 seats in the county.

Which party does the most to fight climate change?

Over the last four years, the Greens and Liberal Democrats have pioneered a program that puts climate change close to the centre of council policy and practice. The Labour Party has supported them most of the time, whereas the Conservatives have usually opposed them.

We consider that a Green - Liberal Democrat coalition running the council is the best achievable outcome for the climate, with the Greens having enough seats to have a clear role in decision-making.

In Oxford city a new party called the Independent Oxford Alliance (IOA) stood in the 2024 City Council elections and won 4 seats from Labour in East Oxford. The IOA is expected to stand in several seats in 2025. The party was formed around resisting the County Council’s traffic reduction measures and can be expected to oppose climate measures where they may limit personal freedoms or incur public expense.

To shed more light on each party’s positions, we take a closer look at one issue that has been the focus of heated debate - transport.

CASE STUDY

Transport 

38% of Oxfordshire’s emissions

This is the area in which the County Council can bring about the largest savings in greenhouse gases. But both nationally and locally, little progress has been made compared to other sectors, meaning that transport forms an ever higher proportion of our greenhouse gas emissions. In 2022, 90% of transport emissions came from road travel with 43% from A roads, 25% from minor roads and 23% from motorways.

With the government aiming to make the national electricity supply fully renewable by 2030, a switch to electric vehicles could eliminate transport emissions almost entirely. But the sale of new petrol and diesel cars is not set to end till 2035, meaning they will still be on our roads in 2045 or later. This, together with the need to create more street space for faster buses, walking, cycling and play and to cut congestion and pollution mean that measures to reduce car trips are also needed. 

The County Council has targets to:

  • reduce car trips by 25% by 2030

  • deliver a net-zero transport network by 2040

  • have zero, or as close as possible, road fatalities or life-changing injuries by 2050.

The council plans to achieve this through 23 measures set out in the Central Oxfordshire Travel Plan. Alongside faster and more frequent buses, better cycling and walking infrastructure, creating transport and freight hubs, car free school streets, rural car club pilot schemes and reduced parking, the Council is introducing four large scale traffic restriction measures in Oxford city that have proved controversial:

The Low Traffic Neighbourhoods stop cars and vans cutting through residential streets. Six new Low Traffic Neighbourhoods have recently been set up in East Oxford.

The traffic filters will limit the number of car journeys at six major points around the city. They are due to launch in August 2026

The Zero Emission Zone means you must pay a charge if you drive into it in a vehicle that is not fully electric. The ZEZ currently only operates in a few streets in Oxford centre but the intention is to expand the area to cover most of the city centre.

20 mile an hour speed limits are being introduced across the county where residents request them

Where the parties stand on transport

Almost all parties claim to be in favour of steps to improve buses, walking, cycling and extending electric vehicle charging structure, but tend to differ on the measures that restrict or prevent traffic movements. This table summarises their positions:

  • Green - Would aim to add more

    Lib Dem - Would keep them all

    Labour - May remove some

    Conservative - May remove them all

    Independent Oxford Alliance - Would remove them all

  • Green - Supported

    Lib Dem - Supported

    Labour - Opposed

    Conservative - Opposed

    Independent Oxford Alliance - Opposed

  • Green - Supported

    Lib Dem - Supported

    Labour - Supported

    Conservative - Opposed

    Independent Oxford Alliance - To be reviewed

  • Green - Supported

    Lib Dem - Supported

    Labour - Supported

    Conservative - Opposed

    Independent Oxford Alliance - Return to 30mph on main roads