{"id":621213,"date":"2025-12-09T01:51:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T01:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/621213\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T01:51:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T01:51:16","slug":"councillor-raising-funds-for-legal-battle-against-congestion-charge-by-cycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/621213\/","title":{"rendered":"Councillor raising funds for legal battle against congestion charge\u2026 by cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Oxfordshire councillor is planning on cycling every day in the run-up\u00a0to Christmas to raise money for the legal battle against a congestion charge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Currently, motorists face a \u00a35 charge for driving through six roads at certain times without a permit. This is a temporary charge to reduce traffic in the city during Network Rail\u2019s closure of Botley Road.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the council, the congestion charge will reduce traffic, improve bus journey times and make it easier for people, such as carers and blue badge holders, to get around the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new campaign group, Open Roads for Oxford, was set up to launch a legal challenge against Oxfordshire Council.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The online GoFundMe fundraiser<\/a> has already raised over \u00a39,000. This does not include direct donations for the campaign group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Councillor David Henwood is cycling every day to raise money for the campaign. He said that if motorists couldn\u2019t stop to donate, he would donate a pound for every car driver who beeps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"CllrCllr David Henwood protesting congestion charge (credit: David Henwood)<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some bemused looks today, along with some that thought I am plain nuts cycling in the rain,\u201d he told the Oxford Mail<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA younger David enjoyed the rain, but I must admit I struggled today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI went from Littlemore up to the Slade today and then turned left at the Headington Roundabout towards Headington and down through Hollow Way and back out onto the cycle track near Tesco\u2019s and back to Littlemore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI will do the same route tomorrow as I\u2019m not ready to do a complete lap of the bypass yet!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cllr Henwood is the group leader on Oxford City Council of the Independent Oxford Alliance. This party campaigns against Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and traffic filters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In October this year, he was found to have harassed and bullied a Labour councillor, through posting \u201cuntruths\u201d about her on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Oxford Clarion reports<\/a> that he posted that the councillor, Trish Elphinstone, had \u201cbetrayed residents\u201d through voting for the Rose Hill Controlled Parking Zone, despite there being no vote for a CPZ at Rose Hill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They also reported that he shared a spoof image on social media, claiming that \u201cbike users believe they know better than the rest of us\u201d and \u201clive in blissful ignorance or regard for the needs of others\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has vocally opposed the charge since it was announced. In the council\u2019s public consultation, 74% of respondents said the scheme would have a negative impact.<\/p>\n

Almost 14,000 people\u00a0have also signed a petition against it.<\/p>\n

The congestion charge is due to end when Botley Road reopens in August 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BotleyBotley road, Oxford (credit: Google)<\/p>\n

A council spokesperson said, \u201cThe temporary congestion charge has been implemented to reduce traffic in the city during Network Rail\u2019s extended closure of Botley Road, making journeys quicker, more connected, more flexible and more reliable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe county council will publish data about the scheme\u2019s impacts during its first month of operation next week (Monday, December 8).<\/p>\n

The road closure is due to a \u00a3161 million expansion of Oxford Station, which includes a new platform and western entrance, as well as\u00a0significant improvements to the area beneath Botley Road bridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The temporary charge will be replaced by the traffic filter trial, where\u00a0motorists will be fined up to \u00a370 for driving through the same roads affected by the congestion charge.<\/p>\n

The campaign also seeks to prevent the traffic filter trial from going ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Oxfordshire councillor is planning on cycling every day in the run-up\u00a0to Christmas to raise money for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-621213","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115687109553844976","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}