OXFORD'S two MPs have called for councils to get more powers to regulate public transport.

Layla Moran and Anneliese Dodds said Oxfordshire's local authorities should also get more funding to help develop new services.

The Lib Dem and Labour MPs put aside their differences at a public meeting on Friday to call for changes in the rules to help tackle climate change.

The meeting, hosted by Oxfordshire Climate Action Network at Wesley Memorial Church, comes as both city and county councils plan major transport schemes.

The authorities are jointly drawing up a zero-emissions zone for the city centre to tackle illegally high levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution from diesel vehicles.

Given the Conservative-led county is the highways authority for Oxfordshire, the city has already asked government for more powers to regulate transport.

With pollution in mind, Ms Moran also urged more parents to consider the impact on their children and others if they drive them to school.

Both MPs supported Oxford Greenpeace's plans to write to the government calling for the 2040 target for banning sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles to be brought forward to 2030.

They also stated their support for the campaign to get Oxfordshire County Council pension fund to disinvest finds from fossil fuel companies.

One member of the 220-strong audience asked the parliamentarians what, as opposition MPs, they could actually do.

Both highlighted the important roles of parliamentary review bodies such as the public accounts committee – made up of MPs from all parties – and the way in which continuing pressure can push new issues into the spotlight.

On housing they were questioned about how far plans for 100,000 new homes in Oxfordshire can be compatible with policies on climate change and sustainable transport.

Both stressed that Oxfordshire needed more homes, though Ms Moran suggested the figure was ‘probably too high’ while Ms Dodds focused on the need for homes to be affordable and energy-efficient, and for councils to have more powers to insist on a better percentage of social housing.

There was strong feeling in the room against the proposed Oxford–Cambridge Expressway and development that might come with it.

While Ms Moran appeared to come down against this, Ms Dodds talked of the need to 'grasp the nettle' on projects such as the expressway and HS2.

The meeting also heard from Stephen Joseph, director of the Campaign for Better Transport, and Polly Billington, director of UK100, the new network of UK cities working on climate change which Oxford City Council joined recently.

The national speakers both stressed the need for innovative approaches to improving public transport, and that new housing developments need to have good transport links designed in from the start.

Closing the event, chairman Chris Church of Oxford Friends of the Earth reminded the audience that 2018 would see both councils and government taking some critical decisions on the future of transport and development in the county, and urged those attending to keep lobbying their MPs and councillors on these issues.