CITY councillors supported a call to withdraw investments in fossil fuel and fracking companies from a multi-billion pension fund.

The Oxfordshire Pension Fund is run by Oxfordshire County Council but is used by more than 200 employers.

Richard Howlett, a Labour councillor, took through a motion originally proposed by his party colleague John Tanner on Monday.

Mr Howlett said fracking in particular was an 'appalling idea viewed at many angles'.

Blasting through rocks to force them open and extract oil and gas in the fracking process is a 'short-termist and dangerous way' of investing pensions, he added.

Mr Tanner, the council's former leader, was at another meeting that evening.

His motion, to ask the pension fund to remove its savings, was supported by 38 councillors at Oxford Town Hall. Another two councillors abstained from the vote.

Employers in the pension fund include free, primary, comprehensive and international schools, Oxford Brookes University and councils.

But also included are A2 Dominion, a housing association which has development across Oxfordshire, Citizens Advice bureaus and Skanska, which carries out roadworks for the county council.