A campaign group says businesses are "horrified" by proposals to remove parking spaces in the city centre and Summertown.

The proposals are included in a range of potential schemes for improving streets in Oxford city centre and Oxford North, which residents have been invited to provide feedback on in a new survey.

One of the plans, which aims to "support pedestrian and business activity", includes removing the service road on the western side of Banbury Road between Diamond Place and Lonsdale Road to introduce more seating space, greenery, and cafe seating.

Graham Jones, campaign manager for Rescue Oxford (ROX) – backing Oxford business, said: “The threat to short term parking spaces in the middle of Summertown shops will have a very detrimental impact on the retailers and other businesses there.

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“The spaces allow people to stop while enroute from work, the hospitals and other locations to quickly pick up supplies and cause very little inconvenience to the traffic flow in the Banbury Road.

“The tightening of various junctions will make it very difficult for larger vehicles to turn off the major roads and will slow down the traffic, including buses, on those roads.”

Bernadette Evans, spokesperson for Oxford Business Action Group, said: “Business owners in the city centre, Jericho and Summertown are understandably horrified that the council is proposing to remove their valuable customer parking in St Giles and on Banbury Road.

“This sends a tone-deaf message to both business owners and customers.”

Oxfordshire County Council opened a survey seeking residents’ views on a range of potential ideas for improving the streets in Oxford city centre and Oxford North on Monday, (March 3).

While it is not a formal consultation, residents will be able to provide feedback on ideas and add suggestions.

Other plans included in the survey range from widening pavements, improving the safety of crossings, adding more space for outdoor seating and enhancing paving.

Potential locations include St Giles’, Carfax, Hythe Bridge Street, and Little Clarendon Street.

Mark Beer OBE, who is running as an Independent Oxford Alliance candidate for Summertown and Walton Manor, said: "The same ideology that has clogged up the arteries to the East and South of our City is coming to North Oxford.

“What madness is it to suggest that removing well-used parking is done in the name of ‘helping businesses’ – that defies logic."

Fellow Independent Oxford Alliance candidate Inga Nicholas said: “Removing the parking from the service road in Summertown in front of the shops, as well as the spaces in South Parade, will not only detrimentally affect residents, but also local businesses.

“Without the service road by the shops on Banbury Road, delivery vans to said shops will have to park on Banbury Road itself, creating bottlenecks.”

Other groups have supported the proposals.

Robin Tucker, co-chair of the Coalition for Healthy Streets and Active Travel, (CoHSAT) said that making streets better for pedestrians and buses is “vital” for Oxford to continue being a successful shopping centre while avoiding traffic jams.

He said: “We're excited by these positive and forward-looking visions for some of Oxford's most iconic streets.

“Many studies, like Living Streets' Pedestrian Pound show how making places better for people can increase retail sales be 20 to 30 per cent, and it's better for health and community too."

Ian Loader, chair of Cyclox, said they were "hugely supportive of the direction of travel" and that the have "potential to transform the centre of Oxford for the better".

He added that the group would like to see improvements to High Street and Walton Street, and that they want more proper spaces just for cyclists.

Councillor Judy Roberts, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Development Strategy, said: “This survey invites early engagement, feedback and ideas to help inform initial suggestions.

“There will be further opportunities to feed back on the specific details of individual projects as they are brought forward.”

The initial suggestions are available for review online, and the public can share their views until Sunday, March 23.

A full report, including public feedback, will be published later this spring.

Oxfordshire County Council

Business

Transport

Chris Williams • February 19, 2025

Continuing our series looking at the club’s Business Partners this week we get to know a little more about Manor Flooring

Manor Flooring is an established Oxfordshire based flooring company with over 25 years experience in supplying and fitting all types of flooring across the UK specialising in Karndean, but also real wood, all carpet types and sheet vinyl. They offer free quotes and estimates backed by an unrivalled aftercare service to all customers and pride themselves on the high level of personal service that see customers coming back time and time again.

Dan Burgess is a familiar figure in both the Oxfordshire business community and within local football.

“I guess that’s true he says as we stand at the side of the pitch watching Oxford City Women play. “Business wise we have worked with a lot of companies and organisations all across the county. We started out quite small back in 2010 when I started up the business and we’ve always kept the same mentality: treat people well, listen to what they need and deliver to the highest standard we can possibly achieve. People have been very kind: not just businesses but also lots of people who have invited us into their homes and been delighted with the carpets and flooring we put down for them.

“I like to think we have a good reputation and things certainly seem to be growing all the time; we are busier than ever.”

How did the connection with Oxford City come about?

“Well football has always been a passion. I’ve been working in the flooring business for a long time now and when I mention football people always ask me if I was a sweeper!

“We’ve worked with Oxford United and now Oxford City and my daughter plays for the club. She loves the game and seeing her flourish at City has been fantastic. I offered to sponsor her team and then once we looked into it we realised we could do so much more.

“The club is absolutely committed to developing Women’s football and offering pathways for footballers in the area. Aliyah Anthony heads up the Women’s development side of the club and you only need to speak to her for two minutes to realise the passion that the whole club has for Women’s football.

“It’s fantastic to see the teams run past the Manor Flooring Board as they enter the pitch, and to see our name on the back of the shirts. I was really proud to be invited to the kit launch at the University of Oxford and to see our name literally in the heart of Oxford.

“The club is ambitious and so are we at Manor Flooring. We are an authourised platinum retailer of Karndean Flooring which is a great company to work with and we are well-established now as Oxford’s leading flooring company. We are delighted to be working with Oxford City and it’s a partnership that we believe will grow and grow.”

Find out more about Manor Flooring here: https://manorflooring.co.uk or visit their showroom in Wooton, Abingdon

Want to find out more about how Oxford City can help your business? Then email GM@Oxcityfc.co.uk

OXFORD City smashed the University of Oxford’s football team for eight in a return of the historic Town v Gown encounter.

The Hoops were 4-0 in front at half-time, and added another four goals in the second period against Oxford University Association Football Club at the MGroup Stadium.

As expected, the Hoops started the stronger and zipped the ball about well, and with four minutes on the clock, Jaiden Putman fired over a loose ball from outside the penalty area following an early corner.

Three minutes later, Ed Routh made an impressive double save after first denying City youngster Brayden Daniel inside the box.

But with nine minutes on the clock, Kauan Bittencourt De Oliviera opened the scoring for the Hoops when his well-placed strike flew past Routh.

Jacob Roddy fired over from the left channel as City sought to double their lead, and midway through the first half, Queens Park Rangers loanee Rohan Vaughan bundled in a clipped cross from Putman to put the Hoops 2-0 in front.

Soon after, Daniel added a quickfire third from the penalty spot after Routh was adjudged to have brought down the City player illegally.

Just after half an hour had passed, Josh McConnell saw a deflected effort from the edge of the box wrongfoot Routh and find the goalkeeper’s bottom left corner to make it 4-0.

In a rare Blues attack, David Amamize broke the offside trap and burst down the right-hand side, but his low finish across goal was thwarted by Laurie Walker shortly before half-time.

Nine minutes into the second period, Vaughan grabbed his brace when he worked his way into the box and applied a calm finish.

McConnell then slid a clever pass through for substitute Jayden Carbon, who fired over from outside the area, before Vaughan completed his hat-trick with a clinical finish to put the Hoops 6-0 in front.

City substitute Tom Scott buried a first-time effort from the centre of the box with his left foot to add the seventh goal, and the eighth arrived when Corie Andrews finished from close range.

Ivan Solomakhin found space well at the other end, but sliced a right-footed effort comfortably wide from a difficult angle.

In the final 10 minutes, Scott lined up a right-footed strike from 20 yards out, but his low effort was fired narrowly wide, as the Hoops settled for eight.

That total was two short of the tally scored by the university side when they first met City, having recorded a 10-0 victory back in February 1895.

Meanwhile, the Hoops won 2-1 in the first women’s game against the Blues in the event’s 130-year history, with all money raised from both matches to be donated to charity partners of the football club and the university.

Six Oxfordshire councils have come together in a bid to ensure the county has clean and reliable energy as it moves away from fossil fuels.

The Future Oxfordshire Partnership, comprising Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council, and West Oxfordshire, Cherwell, South Oxfordshire, and Vale of White Horse district councils, will deliver local area energy plans for the county.

These plans aim to address climate change and secure cleaner, more affordable energy for Oxfordshire by providing strategic and community-focused actions for transforming the way local energy, such as wind and solar, is generated, used, and managed.

The plans will also assess how building improvement measures, such as insulation and low-carbon heating, can reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

At the same time, they will improve the quality of information necessary to plan and deliver the energy needed from the electricity grid, ensuring homes and businesses can benefit from cleaner, more reliable power.

The authorities will work with local communities and businesses to identify projects that will help to manage the transition to cleaner energy.

The plans will identify specific actions for each district, together with more strategic projects to be delivered at the county level.

Councillor Liz Leffman, chair of the Future Oxfordshire Partnership and leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: "It doesn’t make sense to spend energy, and therefore money, transmitting electricity made by burning gas through wires and pylons over miles and miles to people in Shrivenham, for example, when they could use the cheap energy created at a nearby windfarm or excess electricity made on a neighbour’s roof.

"This is why we need a local area energy plan. This project is a fantastic example of what can be achieved when we work together to tackle challenges.

"The six councils of Oxfordshire are joining forces and working with the community to make a plan for a greener, fairer energy system."

The local area energy plans will also provide more information to energy network providers, enabling them to plan and invest in necessary electricity grid upgrades ahead of demand.

This, the councils said, is "key" to ensuring Oxfordshire has the energy capacity to meet its future needs, powering homes, businesses, and delivering locally generated renewable energy.

Ove Arup & Partners have been appointed as lead consultants in the development of the plans.

Stuart Hallett, from Arup, said: "As advocates of a whole-system approach to energy planning at this scale, we are delighted to be working on this industry-leading work, supported by our partners Global City Futures and Oxford Brookes University, to deliver a stakeholder-led plan, placing people, business, and communities at the heart of a cost-effective and just transition."

The launch of Uber in Oxford has raised fears that it will result in a loss of trade for longstanding taxi firms in the city.

Uber was granted a private hire operator licence in Oxford after Oxford City Council said the licensing authority found there was "no reason to refuse the application".

Officially launching in Oxford yesterday (Wednesday, February 26), Uber said it was "delighted" to launch in "one of the UK's most iconic cities".

The company said prior to the launch, more than 10,000 Uber users opened the app every week to try and book a trip with Uber and couldn't - until now.

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But Amir Khan, manager of 001 Taxis Oxford, has concerns about the impact this will have on taxi firms already operating in the city.

"The main concern is wherever they go, they flood the market with taxis," he told us.

"They could be local taxis, but a lot of the time it's out-of-towners, which then impacts the local drivers who have been working in these areas for a long period of time.

"The worry is the flooding of out-of-town vehicles, which will kill the trade for local drivers... the driver earnings will just diminish."

Mr Khan, whose firm has been operating in Oxford for 50 years, said he has concerns about vehicle standards dropping.

"There's no check, the vehicle standards are not to the standard they are in Oxford. The vehicles, drivers, the processes are all different.

"The standards, will they drop? Because in Oxford we've got pretty good standards."

In 2021, taxi and mini cab drivers in Oxford protested when Uber launched a local cab trial with 001.

Protests over Uber Local trialMr Khan said: "We teamed up with them, because they said 'it's all about the locals'.

"Then about a year ago they turned it off and now they've come directly and taking on the drivers themselves."

In 2016, an operating license for Uber was declared void, but a spokesman for the company said at the time that it would not rule out re-applying in the future.

A spokesperson for Oxford City Council said: "The company’s application and premises were reviewed against the council’s criteria and the licensing authority found no reason to refuse the application.

"The application was reviewed against the same criteria as all other private hire operators in the city.

"A new operator will give residents and visitors more options for moving around the city safely and conveniently."

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A spokesperson for Uber added: “Oxford is one of the UK’s most iconic cities, so we are delighted to be launching today to provide new earning opportunities for local drivers, give passengers greater transport options and support the local economy.

"Uber’s industry leading safety features will give passengers the ability to book safe trips to wherever they want to go, in particular the city’s students and tourists.

"All Uber drivers have access to industry leading worker rights such as holiday pay and a pension, as well as formal representation through GMB Union.”