Witney MP Robert Courts has launched a petition calling on Oxfordshire County Council to start listening to local opinions.
Oxfordshire County Council recently announced that they would be going ahead with their plans to reduce speed limits to 20mph throughout Witney.
This is despite the fact that only 1 in 3 local residents who responded to the Council’s own consultation expressed support for the plans.
Thames Valley Police have essentially labelled the plans unenforceable and local bus provider Stagecoach called them “crude, largely unevidenced, and likely to present more problems for the sustainability of bus services in Witney.”
Despite this clear rejection of their plans from the people of Witney, the Council have announced that they will be going ahead anyway.
This is yet another example of a concerning pattern we are seeing from the Liberal-Labour-Green coalition running County Hall - ignoring the views of West Oxfordshire residents to plough ahead with their ideological agenda.
In the County Council’s consultation on permanently closing Witney High Street, a majority of respondents opposed the plans, including 36 out of 37 local traders. Yet the Council went ahead with their plans anyway.
In Woodstock, 404 residents expressed opposition to the County Council’s plans to end free parking in the town, compared to just 54 votes in support. Yet the Council are going ahead with their plans anyway.
We are now seeing the same arrogant dismissal of local opinion with the Council’s unevidenced, unpopular and unenforceable 20mph policy for Witney.
It is time for County Hall to start listening, and to put the views over local residents ahead of their dogmatic agenda.
The petition states:
The petition of residents of Witney and West Oxfordshire,
Expresses concern that Oxfordshire County Council continues to ignore and dismiss the views of local people.
Declares that the concerns of West Oxfordshire’s residents have been ignored by the County Council on issues including: the closure of Witney High Street; ending free parking in Woodstock; and introducing 20mph speed limits across Witney.
The petitioners therefore request that the Liberal-Labour-Green coalition running Oxfordshire County Council reconsider their current approach and immediately start listening to the people of West Oxfordshire. Furthermore, the petitioners request that the County Council urgently reviews their dogmatic approach to the above issues and takes into account the concerns expressed by local people.
Please take a moment to sign Robert's petition here and make it clear to County Hall that they cannot continue to ride roughshod over local opinion in West Oxfordshire.
