The battle for Oxford

Oxford's dreaming spires image masks its seedier side

By Jackie Storer BBC News Online political staff

The Greens share power with the Lib Dems in Oxford, and hope to make gains - but rivals hope to benefit from anger at the car ban in central shopping streets.

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Tell anyone you live in Oxford and immediately a judgement is made.

You must be wealthy, probably very well educated at the city's internationally renowned university and live amid the dreaming spires.

The reality is very different.

People think it is so posh - they don't understand that there are normal people living in Oxford, trying to make a living

Sue Holden
Newsagent

Its veneer is the golden architecture of its colleges, students sweeping around with caps and gowns, the meandering river, high-priced properties and cultural heritage.

To many it would seem a Conservative heartland, yet on the city council there is not one Tory to be seen.

Behind Oxford's historic beauty, there is a much less salubrious side, with people whose priorities do not start with cutting car pollution in the main shopping streets.

Difficult to forecast

As Sue Holden, a newsagent for 30 years in Barton, near Headington, summed it up to BBC News Online: "It is real town and gown. There are the haves and the have nots.

"People think it is so posh - they don't understand that there are normal people living in Oxford, trying to make a living."

It is this split which is one of the reasons why it is proving so difficult to predict how the council election on 2 May will go.

Currently the 20 Liberal Democrats and seven Green councillors - its biggest local representation anywhere in the country - hold power.

Student vote

The coalition administration was voted in as a result of the elections in May 2000, overturning 20 years of Labour rule.

Labour now commands 21 seats on the council, along with one Independent. The only Tory councillor resigned earlier this year.

Students from across the globe make up a sizeable swathe of the population, with many from Europe able to vote.

Parking in Oxford is probably the most expensive outside London

Graham Jones
Conservatives

But with the ward boundaries changing and reducing the numbers of councillors from 51 across 17 wards to 48 councillors in 24 wards, plus an apathetic electorate, all four main parties admit the result for Oxford on 2 May is anybody's guess.

Go straight to the city's bustling shopping centre and it is the striking absence of cars that is most evident.

Motorists are encouraged to abandon their vehicles at park and ride schemes on its outskirts.

Public transport

Anyone who does decide to venture in on their own four wheels - is barred from the central shopping area and will find any car parking spaces charging premium rates for a two to three hour stay.

Buses are the derigeur form of transport here and pretty efficient they are to.

This is no consolation to the city's businesses who claim the Oxford Transport Strategy has deprived them of trade and forced their delivery vans on to circuitous and time-consuming routes around it.

We certainly don't think there should be concessions towards people parking in order to shop

Paul Ingram
Greens

It is a popular drum on which the Conservatives plan to beat at this election.

"Across the different parts of the city, businesses have been suffering quite badly," said Tory candidate Graham Jones.

"We do believe that OTS is rather draconian and we have picked up lots of protests."

Air pollution

He said: "It has made it difficult for businesses to do business. It is difficult for shoppers doing serious shops or people calling in to the shops on their way to a business matter.

"Parking in Oxford is probably the most expensive outside London."

However the Green Party would disagree, stressing that air pollution has improved greatly since the scheme was introduced.

The roads aren't able to cope with such a big volume of traffic

Tony Brett
Lib Dems

Paul Ingram, the Green deputy leader of the council - who is standing down at this election - said: "It clearly creates operational problems for the businesses, although they are not insurmountable."

Businesses in the covered market, in the city centre, has been given permission to make deliveries and parking has been reinstalled to the part pedestrianised Broad Street.

Shopping changes?

Liberal Democrat Tony Brett, a councillor standing for re-election, said OTS has resulted in some of the highest bus use in the country.

"Traders claim people can't drive in to the city so they will go elsewhere. There may be some truth in that, but I think it is more to do with changing shopping patterns."

From the point of view of traffic in the city centre, it has been a success

Alex Hollingsworth
Labour

"The problem with Oxford is it started being built 800 years ago and there obviously weren't any cars then. The roads aren't able to cope with such a big volume of traffic," he said.

Labour group leader Alex Hollingsworth, who was chairman of the city's highways and traffic committee when some of the key changes were introduced, said: "From the point of view of traffic in the city centre, it has been a success.

"The pedestrian environment created in Cornmarket is a huge improvement. Broad Street is only a partial success in my view."

Vandalism

He added: "Air pollution has substantially improved in most streets, although there is still more to do in that area."

For the people in Rose Hill, a rundown estate to the south of the city, unemployment - 56% of residents are on benefits - a high rate of truancy and mindless vandalism are more pressing issues than where to park your car.

Resident David Evans said: "Trees get planted and then uprooted, walls get kicked down. The post box was ripped out and it has never been repaired and put back.

"The pavement has been smashed up and I worry about old people tripping up. The main problem here is just the state of the estate."

Before this place opened, the kids had nothing to do

Annabelle Jackson

But residents believe the area, which includes the more affluent village of Iffley, is turning around - slowly.

They say the government funded Sure Start pre-school centre for parents of pre-school children has made a real difference.

Here, volunteers, led by the Jackson sisters Annabelle, 33, and Tracey, 30, organise a creche for up to 20 youngsters, a drop-in cafe, a Friday night disco for five to 15-year-olds, a fishing group and day trips out to places such as Brighton, Southsea and Bournemouth.

Mother-of-one Annabelle said: "Before this place opened, the kids had nothing to do. They ran around the streets, vandalising empty houses."

It is an example of how communities can see real improvements - but, as with everywhere else in England, will it be enough to persuade people to bother going out to vote on 2 May.