1. The climate emergency should be an explicit and integral consideration in all local authority decision making.
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
Strongly agree
The Green Party has been pushing strongly for this across on local authorities across the country, and it was Green city councillors who proposed that a climate and ecological emergency should be declared in Oxford.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
Strongly agree
The Climate Emergency is an emergency and we have a responsibility to consider it in all that we do.
Scrase, Richard – Green
Strongly agree
We have to think through the consequences of our actions. Since attending the 1997 UN Climate Conference in Japan which I traveled to by train I’ve seen how planning decisions provide the system within which folk can reduce their impact – or not.
2. I support the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
Strongly agree
Again, Green Party representatives have been pushing for this across the country, and in Oxford it was Green city councillors who put forward a motion in support of this to the City Council.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
Strongly agree
Every country including the UK has a role to play in addressing the Climate Emergency. Change is most likely to be successful when it comes from below than when it is imposed on people. There will clearly in the short term be financial costs to transitioning to a carbon neutral society and those costs should be born predominately by those who are most able to afford them and to support those least able to afford change.
Scrase, Richard – Green
Strongly agree
The CEE is a good start. While we have to carry people along on this journey, I think we have to accept that real progress will require leadership, like the banning of petrol/diesel cars after 2030. While I like the fairness of carbon rationing, a city council has to use the means within its grasp. One example would be prioritising social housing for heat pump retrofit.
3. Motorised traffic in and through Oxford should be reduced 50% below present levels by 2030, to limit air pollution and increase space for cyclists and pedestrians.
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
Strongly agree
The over-dominance of motorised traffic in the city needs to be reduced for environmental, health, and social reasons.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
Agree
Polluting traffic is one of the contributory factors to the Climate Emergency. Reducing the emissions from car journeys will be a challenge and we need to look about how we can incentivise people to consider the journeys they make including how they make them. Not everyone can walk or cycle and we need a public transport system that is affordable, reliable throughout the day and takes people to the places they need to get to. The challenge is greater because so many of the places people now shop in are on the edges of the city rather than in he centre and many local shops people used to be able to walk to have disappeared.
Scrase, Richard – Green
Strongly agree
People waste days of their lives each week stuck in traffic. The only way to increase transport within Oxford is to remove cars to make way for buses, cycling and walking.
4. Development decisions (planning and housing) should design out car-dependency and facilitate the creation of 15 minute neighbourhoods, where residents can access all daily goods and services within a 15 minute walk.
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
Strongly agree
Planning decisions are a key way in which we can reduce car dependency. This should be tied in with the concept of 15-minute neighbourhoods, which form part of the Greens’ Oxford city manifesto.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
Agree
That would be true if we were starting from scratch again but I am not aware of any large enough undeveloped spaces in the City of Oxford where there would be room for housing and all services. We absolutely desperately need more affordable housing in the city and our priority should be to try and build it where we can. We need national government to give local authorities the powers to run their own subsidised public transport which takes people to the places they need to go at an affordable price
Scrase, Richard – Green
Strongly agree
A third of Oxfords citizens don’t have access to a car. Using the measure of 15 minutes to shops, schools, the GP, the park will focus the mind on how to make the city better for all.
5. All new homes built in Oxfordshire should be built to zero carbon standards.
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
Strongly agree
The Committee on Climate Change said in 2019 that the UK’s legally-binding climate change targets will not be met without the near-complete elimination of greenhouse gas emissions from UK buildings. Ensuring that new housing is zero carbon is clearly essential if we are to hope to meet carbon reduction targets.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
Agree
I agree in principle but we have to balance that with the absolutely urgent need to build affordable housing for our citizens to live in. The only housing I consider affordable would be council or housing association housing. Depending on the costs, we may have to balance the need to build housing in large numbers as opposed to potentially less housing of a higher ecological standard. Also I am not really clear what you mean by Zero Carbon standards in this case. It would be a challenge to find materials that don’t have to be transported to a site or manufactured in some way beforehand and therefore have a carbon footprint for any building to be absolutely zero carbon.
Scrase, Richard – Green
Strongly agree
I’ve dived on corals. They are stunningly lovely. If we don’t get to zero (and beyond) our children won’t have this.
6. Local authorities should introduce policies and measures to enable all homes in Oxford and Oxfordshire to achieve an EPC rating of C or higher by 2035.
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
Strongly agree
Emissions reductions from the UK’s 29 million homes have stalled, while energy use in homes increased between 2016 and 2017. Local authorities have a key role to play in changing this.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
Agree
I agree this should be the case but I don’t believe that local authorities on their own have the financial resources to enable this to happen and it will need funding by a National Government raising money through progressive taxation. This is more of an issue that National Government can take a lead on. There are potentially many houses that would need to be completely knocked down and rebuilt to reach improved standards.
Scrase, Richard – Green
Strongly agree
Or higher, but we should start with social housing and the coldest, worst housing.
7. Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council should introduce policies that support the installation of renewable energy sources.
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
Strongly agree
The Greens have pushed for this on the city council. It is this sort of project the city council should be prioritising rather than speculating on commercial priority.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
Strongly agree
I strongly agree with this but again the local authorities can only do such things if they are funded by National Government through progressive taxation.
Scrase, Richard – Green
Strongly agree
Solar energy on roofs and heat pumps for heating. Deny planning permission to anything that is not net zero or better – buildings should be exporting electricity.
8. Local authorities should use every available mechanism (including the planning system, grants and others), and support and enable innovation, to phase out fossil fuel use across Oxford, including domestic, business and industrial use as well as use in their own buildings and operations.
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
Strongly agree
If the council is to reach its 2040 net zero carbon target, then the council has to use every power it has available to it.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
Strongly agree
Once again I agree but the funding to support such initiatives needs to come from National Government raised through progressive taxation.
Scrase, Richard – Green
Strongly agree
Every mechanism – to the extent go compulsory purchase of petrol stations to close them down.
9. The creation, protection and restoration of biodiversity and green spaces for all should be a priority for local authorities including the development of a Nature Recovery Network.
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
Strongly agree
The city council should be far more proactive in promoting biodiversity and protecting green spaces.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
Strongly agree
We have the very great fortune to live in a beautiful city that has green corridors pretty much running right into the heart of our City Centre. We should keep it that way and do our best to protect, restore, maintain and grow natural habitats that promote biodiversity.
Scrase, Richard – Green
Strongly agree
There is no reason why we should not see butterflies and lizards across a city like Oxford. Our parks staff should be given the priority of nurturing wildlife within parks and school grounds. New ponds, verges left to become meadows, parklets, tree planting to provide shaded routes within our 15 minute towns.
10. As Oxfordshire County Council candidate, I support the doubling of tree cover in Oxfordshire by 2045; AND/OR: As Oxford City Council candidate, I support Oxford making a significant contribution to doubling tree cover in Oxfordshire by 2045.
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
Strongly agree
The Green Party has actively supported community tree planting campaigns in the city and argued for more grant funding for community groups undertaking this work.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
Strongly agree
It seems to me in well planned cities, you can have a diversity and cover of trees that far exceeds what you actually find in agricultural land. Wildlife can live in gardens and parks as well as in fields.
Scrase, Richard – Green
Strongly agree
I see tree planting as a key part in making active travel possible by providing routes shaded against increasingly hot summers.
11. Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council should introduce policies that support the development of a food system which promotes local production and use of agro-ecological methods (ie sustainable farming methods that work with nature).
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
Strongly agree
The Green Party has promoted a new Oxford Food Strategy to deal with all aspects of food production and consumption.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
Agree
Again, I think this is more a job for National Government. If we want to eat food produced locally then we need to be clear that that will probably involve the use of subsidies either in the long term or at least in the short term whilst change is made. These funds can only be raised through a progressive taxation system
Scrase, Richard – Green
Strongly agree
Probably beyond the scope of a city councillor, other than supporting allotments.
12. Finally, in 100 words or less, please describe what you plan to contribute to ensuring a green and just recovery in Oxford/ Oxfordshire.
Ledbury, Matthew – Green
I support the Green Party’s proposal for a Green New Deal for Oxford. This addresses the climate emergency by delivering a decarbonised, more localised circular economy, with a funded net zero target, reflecting recent societal shifts, while addressing the housing crisis and inequality.
Ottino, Simon – Labour
We have shown in the last 12 months as a society the sacrifices we can individually make and the unity and strength of working together to address the unexpected emergency of Covid. It is and always has been my vision that as a society it is possible to act in a similar way to address the injustices of inequality and the frightening environmental situation that looms in front of us. Both of them are even greater emergencies but I am confident as a society we can address them and I want to play my part as an individual but also if elected as a representative to the organisations that need to play a part in co-ordinating a response to those emergencies.
Scrase, Richard – Green
I want to allow my children to go out and play so I fully supports the recent Low Traffic schemes. I want to see these extended and will campaign to have the main Oxford/Cowley Road speed limit reduced to 200mph so that the folk living on that road have less noise and air pollution. I will also campaign for a cycle route to be built along the Oxford/Cowley road to make the route better for cyclists and drivers. We spend much time in our homes. When we were looking for a place to rent we saw some truly grotty places. I will focus on improving conditions for people who rent by increasing the resources for city inspections, helping to make sure people’s homes are fit to live in. I care deeply about wildlife and wants to see our spaces, such as Cowley Marsh Park, managed so that we see, for example, cowslips and butterfly’s though-out the park, not just in the nature area. I will also try to persuade our local schools and housing estates to ease off on the mowing and increase their tree planting.
