Oxford Conservative party statement for local elections 2026

Oxford will go to the polls on May 7, in what is likely to be the last ever election for the city council.

There will be 24 seats up for grabs, one in every ward.

Below is the statement shared by the Conservative Party, and there is more to come from the other parties and groups fighting for votes in the city.

For the Oxford Conservatives, Vinay Raniga shared the following pitch:

Oxford Conservatives are increasingly concerned that our city is governed by politicians who do not seem to understand the daily realities of the people who live and work here.

Labour’s overarching priority is to increase employment, much of it by permitting the development of numerous large areas of laboratory space in North and East Oxford, along the Botley Road and even in the former Debenhams store in the city centre.

But their only, and inadequate, plan to provide enough housing for all the people who will fill the jobs created involves ever more encroachment on the precious Green Belt.

Indeed, their proposal for a Greater Oxford Unitary Council is based solely on the idea that the areas round the edge of the city are good for nothing except more building, no matter what impact that might have on the quality of life for both present and new residents.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have similarly little consideration for people who need to get around the city. If their planned traffic filters replace the Congestion Charge when the Botley Road eventually reopens, more vehicles will be forced onto the ring road and the Banbury and Woodstock, increasing congestion and worsening the air quality of the people who live alongside those routes.

Worse, the £5 Congestion Charge fee will be replaced by a £70 fine at a time when many people are struggling with the cost of living.

At national level the Green Party seems to have abandoned environmental causes in favour of increasingly extreme positions such as legalising hard drugs. Some of their local councillors undoubtedly work hard and effectively for their wards, but other candidates seem keener to champion causes way beyond the City Council’s remit.

And Reform simply has no interest at all in the real business of local politics. Their election material focuses, as ever, on one man and his national ambitions – a message that has little resonance or relevance in Oxford.

The Conservatives want responsible, better value spending on the real priorities that matter to local people. If elected, our councillors would lobby to stop the traffic filters, force a review of planning priorities, support local shops, cafes, pubs and other small businesses in the current challenging economic environment and protect and enhance valuable green spaces within and around the city.