Introduce a new member and get a free ticket

3 November 2022

If you are already a member of Oxford Civic Society and you introduce a new member, whether Single or Joint, to the Society we will thank you with a free ticket to one of our members-only visits and guided tours. Simply use the form here to give us your name and email, and the new…

OCS's long-form responses and analysis of recent major issues

2 September 2022

2022 has already been a very busy year for the Society’s working groups who analyse and comment on plans and proposals coming from both City and County Councils. As well as the routine examination of small-scale developments there has been a flurry of consultations on major issues which will affect Oxford and Oxfordshire for many…

A guide

17 July 2022

If you are trying to understand all the plans and strategies for our city and county but are too confused by how they relate to each other to marshal your thoughts, you are not alone! There’s the Oxfordshire Vision, the Oxfordshire Local Industrial Strategy, the Pathways to a Zero Carbon Oxfordshire, the Oxfordshire Infrastructure Strategy,…

OCS response to the City Council's 'Parks & Green Spaces' survey

5 April 2022

While the questions posed in the survey go some way to gathering important information about the ‘features and facilities’ in the city’s parks and green spaces, we felt it would be helpful to provide a more comprehensive response which goes beyond these questions and by addresses the need for a more robust strategy and appropriate policies concerning access and use of the spaces and how more green spaces can be provided for the enjoyment of everyone.

Our full response to LTCP5

23 March 2022

Although we welcome and support the County's aspirations of encouraging cycling and walking in achieving a zero-carbon transport system, and reducing motor traffic and car dependency we are not convinced that the Plan explains how this will be done, nor how progress towards these objectives will be monitored. We are particularly disappointed that safety barely features as a topic in the Plan.

25 January 2022

The Society has submitted a response to the consultation on the Oxford Economic Strategy being drawn up by the City Council. The document is technical and a long read, but principally finds that the draft Strategy needs to be much more strongly linked and integrated with the surrounding City Region and its various Councils and…

18 January 2022

Oxford and Oxfordshire are among the fastest growing local economies in the UK but also one of the least equal, so we wanted to examine what fundamental structural changes may be required to ensure our future growth delivers benefits to all residents and serves to narrow the inequalities gap. We are currently involved with the…

8 December 2021

Following his talk to the Oxford Civic Society on the history of the railways of Oxfordshire last year, Laurence Waters turned his attention to some of the branch lines in the Vale, including the Abingdon Branch, Didcot Junction to Uffington, Faringdon and the Wantage Tramway. As photograph archivist for the Great Western archive at Didcot,…

4 December 2021

We broadly endorse the proposals to prioritise pedestrian and cycle traffic in line with central and local government policy. However, it is unfortunate that implementation seems to be intended in isolation of other measures, including those aimed at reducing car numbers to safeguard traffic flow.

12 November 2021

Learn more about the past, present and future of Oxford University’s ‘Laboratory with Leaves’, from Nigel Fisher, who has been the Conservator of Wytham Woods since 2000. This is a slideshow with Nigel’s audio presentation on 7 October 2021 and the Q&A session which followed.