TAKING OXFORDSHIRE’S RAILWAYSBACK INTO PUBLIC OWNERSHIP

The British public support bringing back the railways into public ownership. Opinion polls and surveys show average support in the 60-70% range.

Oxfordshire’s Green Party County Councillors will be putting a motion to the County Council later this month to push the other parties on the Council to make public ownership of the railways a priority. Councillor  David Williams, leader of the Green Group on the County Council, explains:

“Our  motion  on  public  ownership  of  the  railways  follows  the  County’s  review  of  its  Transport Strategy,  which stresses  that  pressure  on roads can  only  be relieved  if  more people  use  public transport, walk and cycle. Our motion calls for the County to persuade the Government to divert part of the £18 billion already committed to road building to rail expansion, reduced rail fares, bus subsidies and new cycle networks. We also stress the need for a fully integrated modern railway system. In Oxford this would mean bringing forward: the full use of the line running through Cowley for passengers in both directions; other planned rail improvements as already identified which would increase services between Oxford and the rest of the County and improve services to London.”

Ann Duncan, Green Party Candidate for Oxford East, adds:

“Current transport proposals for Oxfordshire are not going to achieve the major modal shift the County needs, away from the car for a lot more of our journeys. Public investment needs to promote walking, cycling, bus and rail use, and more teleworking from home. It is also needed to build more homes on brownfield sites in Oxford so that more people are able to live near to where they actually work.  That way we can start on reduce the 46,000 commuters who seek to enter Oxford every working day."