Elections 2021: Green Party promises 'Green New Deal for Oxford'

Mr Simmons said his party would push for more radical environmental policies in future as they said they had done with the Labour majority in the current council..

He said: "We have effectively held the council to account. History has shown that the more Greens there are, the more we can move the council in the right direction to pick up on things that have been missed - whether deliberately or not deliberately."

In their manifesto, the Greens promise to make homes more environmentally friendly, use empty city centre shops and brownfield sites for new houses, give their backing to Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and an electric shuttle delivery service, and protect Oxford's green spaces from development.

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And underpinning the manifesto is a UK-wide promise of a Green New Deal, which they say would 'tackle inequality, meets people’s needs and enhances lives, creating new, well-paid, secure, jobs'.

Mr Simmons said: "Our manifesto is the Green New Deal for Oxford."

To fund this, Oxford's Greens are proposing to remove the city council's investments in commercial property and redirect it into other schemes.

Carbon zero houses

On housing, the Green leader said his party would look at reusing vacant city centre buildings or building more homes.

The St Mary's councillor said: "City centres are changing, most high street fashion brands have closed and moved online. This is a shift that has been accelerated by Covid but always was there."

He added there was a 'large opportunity' for city centres to be repurposed for housing.

Mr Simmons also suggested more homes could be built on brownfield sites, which have already been developed, and pointed to building homes on stilts above existing car parks.

Craig Simmons, Oxford's Green group leader. Picture: Ed Nix

The Green leader pointed to the example of St Clement's car park where something similar had been tried.

The Greens also want to review Oxford's Local Plan, which says all new housing developments must be zero carbon from 2030 onwards, and bring this deadline forward.

Electric Delivery Shuttles

On transport, the Greens are committed to schemes like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, which aim to reduce car use by stopping people from cutting through residential streets.

But Green leader Mr Simmons said it was important to communicate with people living in the areas where these LTNs were being introduced.

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He said: "In St Mary's we are working on a scheme and we have been running consultations for over a year. We have come up with a series of suggestions before the scheme has even been implemented."

The Greens are also backing plans for electric shuttles to replace delivery lorries in the centre of Oxford as an environmentally-friendly alternative.

Mr Simmons said 'break bulk' sites could be identified outside of Oxford, where HGVs could offload onto smaller vehicles and then these could take them onto high street shops.

He added: "It is an idea we have had for a while, we would want to try to keep big polluting lorries out of the city because they are the slowest to become electric or less emitting."

Oxford's Natural Capital

The Green Party's Oxford manifesto pledges to support the city's wildlife, describing it as ‘natural capital’.

This area of policy links back to the party's commitments on housing.

Speaking about the 'controversial' plans to build 45 homes on Iffley Fields, Mr Simmons said the Greens would abandon projects like this to protect areas where animals are thriving in Oxford.

He said: "This will urbanise the surrounding area, which is a walking and cycling route. It is ironic when other places are trying to create more schemes where there are walking and cycling routes known as green ways."

Tucked away in Headington, Lye Valley is a haven for wildlife and people Picture: Tony Gillie.

On cleaning up waste, the Greens have promised to 'align the City’s waste strategy with its carbon targets' and improve recycling rates.

St Mary's councillor Mr Simmons also wants to see a scheme called the Blue Bin League reintroduced in Oxford.

This incentive scheme encouraged more people to recycle by providing donations to the charity of choice in streets which recycled the most.

Mr Simmons, who has been a councillor for 22 years overall, is the director of a global company that consults in environmental sustainability.

He is standing down from his council seat in St Mary's Ward this year for family reasons and Green candidate Chris Jarvis will contest it alongside running mate Dick Wolff.