Police called in over anger at Oxford’s green ‘Berlin Wall’

“DRACONIAN” plans to divide a city’s residents into six climate zones have led council chiefs to call in police after they received “extreme abuse”.

In a UK first, Oxford is to be carved into six districts from 2024 and drivers will have to apply for a permit to travel between them for a maximum of 100 days a year.

The “traffic filters” come as Oxford city council and Oxfordshire county council hope it will become a “15-minute city”, with GPS, schools and shops in local clusters. But a furious row has erupted with councillors bombarded by abuse and “numerous calls and social media from worried residents”.

In a joint statement this week, the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Greenrun councils said they are “working with Thames Valley Police to report the most extreme abuse”.

Under the authority’s £6.5million trial, traffic cameras will scan key roads seven days a week from 7am until 7pm, as well as at other points at rush hour. Private cars without permits will be fined £70 if they pass the boundaries, with blue-badge holders, carers and 100-day permit holders exempt.

However, none of the restrictions will apply to cyclists, e-scooters, mopeds and motorbikes, buses, vans, HGVS, taxis and emergency vehicles. Some critics have described it as “climate lockdown” and “like the Berlin Wall”, while thousands of residents have signed petitions railing against it.

Eddie Reeves, leader of the county council’s Conservative opposition, said it was a “draconian, discriminatory and expensive policy”.

He said: “The council is pleading poverty from the Treasury while spending millions of pounds of public money on a series of anti-business, city-centric measures … for a so-called ‘liberal’ council to establish a network of cameras that restrict personal freedom at a cost of £6.5 million beggars belief.

“An annual spend of £800,000 could see the council improve air quality, boost local businesses and encourage commuters out of their cars by making park-and-ride sites free.”

Fraser Jones, who owns Barefoot, an Oxford bakery chain, said it was “akin to the Berlin Wall” with “gates [that] will serve to keep residents in their local community”.

A consultation of 5,700 residents in September and October found mixed support and highlighted concerns for the families of the elderly, surrounding villages and city museums. The county council says the filters are expected to cut city traffic by around 20 per cent and by one third in the city centre.