A local council’s plan to cut traffic became a global conspiracy theory

Officials at Oxfordshire County Council were surprised to see their plan flash up on the radars of conspiracy theorists in Canada, Australia, and the United States, Matt Mathers reports

An LTN in action (PA)

It is nicknamed the ‘City of Dreaming Spires’ for its picturesque Anglo-Saxon architecture, but for those trying to rid Oxford of its traffic congestion, things on the ground resembled more of a nightmare when they found themselves at the centre of a global conspiracy theory.

It all started in October last year, with a relatively simple idea - the local council wanted to split the city into six different districts and reduce traffic by introducing ‘filters’. Under traffic filter rules, residents will still be able to travel as much as they like between the districts but, during certain times of the day, may need to take a different route, such as a ring road, if they want to travel by car.

The idea is to try to develop a “15-minute city” of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTN), in which residents would be just a short distance from accessing essential goods and services.