LCWO is pleased to have secured funding from Low Carbon Hub, WOCoRe and a private individual to enable us to purchase an electric cargo bike for community use.  We are currently working with WOCA, ODS and Oxford City Council to make the arrangements for a bike hanger to be sited at the community centre, and hope to have a bike available for use in the near future.

LCWO is an active member of the Coalition for Healthy Streets and Active Travel (CoHSAT), a group of ten voluntary and campaigning organisations working across Oxfordshire to create attractive, accessible and people-friendly streets.  Our transport lead, Neville Scrivener, long-time volunteer and coordinating committee member, has been contributing to the coalition’s work, which currently focuses on creating a new vision for St Giles, holding the County and City Council to account with regards to improvements to active travel provision in response to Coronavirus (as part of #BuildOxfordBackBetter), and lobbying on the Local Connectivity and Transport Plans / Connecting Oxfordshire.

Some recent details from Neville (last updated July 2020):

• Announcement of ‘bus gates’ on the City Council website: https://www.oxford.gov.uk/news/article/1477/councils_to_install_new_temporary_bus_gates_in_oxford_as_part_of_the_next_stage_of_recovery.  We support the aims to make cycling safer, improve public transport with more reliable journey times through less congestion and therefore less pollution. I also believe the 20mph zone is being extended to near Waitrose.
• The County Council phase 1 work on Botley Road has just started near Seacourt Park and Ride to improve more active transport routes for cyclists and pedestrians as well as introducing better bus lanes leaving Oxford. See for more details: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/roadworks/major-current-roadworks/botley-road-phase-1

For Clean Air Day in 2019, we organised a stunt in the city centre to raise awareness of the fact that often, pollution from vehicles is worse inside the car than just a few meters away outside.  This involved filling a stationary vehicle with disco smoke, whilst wearing masks and suits.  It drew a lot of interest, particularly from curious children!  Find out more here, which includes links to the stunt on local news.

Members of LCWO are currently involved in the development of the Go Ultra Low project in Oxford, a project to provide electric car charging for people who have to park their car on the street.

The City and County Council project is trialing six different types of chargers across the city, and partners Co-wheels car club will be introducing 10 new electric cars to boot.

LCWO Transport working group members Neville and Fiona Scrivener are playing host to one trial charge point on Riverside Road.  They have an outside charge-point fitted on the bay window, and hope to use some of their own solar power to charge their Toyota Prius Hybrid.

Other West Oxford chargers are on West Street (a charging post with an EV only bay), Henry Road and  Alexandra Road where Co-wheels will be bringing in a new electric car club car.  You can check out the charging points on the map here: charge point map.

Find out more about the project here: www.goultralowoxford.org

LCWO is a member of the No Expressway Alliance, and opposes the building of the proposed Oxford-Cambridge expressway, along any of its routes.  Find out more avout the alliance here.

• In 2009, LCWO helped set up a local Zipcar scheme which now has a car at the Community Centre, plus a car and van at the Railway Station. More than 170 people have become members of the scheme and at least three families have given up owning a car as a result, saving around 80 tonnes of CO2 per year.

• LCWO supported the successful city campaign for 20mph speed limits on residential roads and under the railway bridge, which should hopefully contribute to a long term shift encourage people to walk and cycle locally.
• LCWO also persuaded the County Council to set an advisory 30mph speed limit on Binsey Lane, improve the pavement under the railway bridge, and remove some cycle barriers.
• LCWO helped with work to develop a cycling map for Oxford, that shows both the routes on the main roads, and the quiet routes that avoid the traffic.
  City Centre map: https://www.cyclox.org/index.php/2020/01/14/oxford-cycle-map/
  Larger area map: http://www.transportparadise.co.uk/cyclemap/
  Cyclox: https://www.cyclox.org/