Transport secretary Mark Harper attacks Oxford traffic plans as he doubles down on ‘15-minute cities’ claim

Council says: ‘Residents will still be able to drive to every part of the city at any time’

Mark Harper speaking at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester (Danny Lawson/PA Wire)

The transport secretary has doubled down on his claim that local councils want to “decide how often you go to the shops”.

At the Conservative Party Conference, Mark Harper said he was “calling time on the misuse of so-called 15-minute cities”.

In his speech, he said: “What is sinister, and what we shouldn’t tolerate, is the idea that local councils can decide how often you go to the shops, and that they can ration who uses the roads and when, and that they police it all with CCTV.”

The Independent and other media asked the Department for Transport (DfT) for clarification. Now, speaking on Times Radio, Mark Harper has revealed he was referring specifically to Oxford City Council.

The presenter, Stig Abell, asked: “Which council is telling you how often you can go to the shops?”

Mr Harper said: “Yes, I can give you a specific example. If you go onto Oxfordshire County Council’s website you will see they have got proposals to have permits issued to residents allowing them only to go down certain roads a certain number of times a year, and using CCTV enforcement cameras to enforce it, and if you breach it you’ll get a fine.

“For councils to tell people that you can only use your cars to drive down certain roads a certain number of times a year, or you’ll be fined, I don’t think is appropriate and I don’t think most people support it.

“That’s what I was talking about in my speech, so that’s a very specific example of something that we don’t support and we’re going to look at how we can tighten guidance and rules so that councils aren’t able to do that.”

Oxfordshire County Council stresses that under its proposals “residents will still be able to drive to every part of the city at any time”.

The proposals have nothing to do with so-called “15-minute cities”. They are part of a project to “reduce traffic levels in Oxford by managing the use of certain roads in the city by private cars”.

Almost all private cars would be banned from crossing some stretches of road leading into the city centre, with CCTV cameras monitoring breaches.

The council is proposing some leniency, to allow residents of nearby locations to have 100 permits to enter the area each year and giving other Oxfordshire residents 25 permits.

Oxfordshire County Council, which is currently run by a Liberal Democrat Green alliance, says: “The proposed traffic filters will:

• make walking and cycling safer and more attractive.
• make bus journeys quicker and more reliable.
• enable new and improved bus routes.
• support investment in modern buses
• help tackle climate change, reduce local air pollution and improve the health and wellbeing of our communities.”

The council says: “Misinformation online has linked the traffic filters to the 15-minute neighbourhoods proposal in the city council’s Local Plan 2040, suggesting that the traffic filters will be used to confine people to their local area. This is not true.

“For the benefit of Oxford residents, what we are aiming to do is to ensure that areas of the city such as Barton, Blackbird Leys and Rose Hill have all the essential services that areas such as East Oxford and Jericho already have.

“Under the traffic filters, residents will still be able to drive to every part of the city at any time – but in the future, at the times when the filters are operating, you may need to take a different route (e.g. using the ring road) if you want to travel by car.”

The transport secretary also gave more detail on one of the government’s projects, “the extension of the Manchester Metrolink” tram network to Manchester airport as well as other areas in Greater Manchester.

Trams have been running to the airport since 2014.

Mr Harper explained: “The Metrolink thing – the train already goes to Terminal 1. This is now an extension further to Terminal 2, so that’s a new commitment we’re going to deliver.”

The tram currently ends beside the rail station, some distance from both terminals.

The Independent has asked the DfT and Manchester airport for more details of the proposed extension.