Alison Hill

Newts in our pond

They have returned! There doesn’t seem to be a collective noun for newts, but they have gathered in their dozens in our pond.

A zonking great cry-for-help pickup truck labelled "Mobility" and a person on a little escooter labelled "micromobility"

A conversation earlier today reminded me of this slide I put into a recent talk. How did we decide the tiny human-sized machine is the special case, and the massive overpowered machine full of empty furniture is the norm?

Buses, cars and cyclists on Magdalen Bridge. Photo by Roger Close.

Traffic levels on Magdalen Bridge have fallen by 13% and on Folly Bridge by 14% since the introduction of Oxford’s congestion charge, according to the latest data. The year-on-year changes also saw drops on Banbury Road, Marston Ferry Road and Thames Street, with rises of 0%–6% on the ring road.

E-bike scheme gives 67-year-old joy and a new lease of life Frances King, 67, who lives with osteoporosis, was referred to Cherwell District Council’s Move Together programme to support her in becoming more…

Is riding an e bike cheating?
No, it's just like doing 20 reps at a low weight instead of 10 at a heavy weight in the gym. You get the exercise anyway. AND you might be more likely to get on the bike in the first place.

www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2586115...

Are you Cyclox' new treasurer?
Could you volunteer with our team of friendly trustees?
We're not looking for an accountant, just someone with a head for figures who wants to see more people cycling more often and more safely in Oxford, more info here www.cyclox.org/index.php/wo...

Nominate a charity - Movement for Good Nominate a charity for a Movement for Good award now.

The Movement for Good is a quarterly prize draw giving charities the chance to win funding. Please nominate Cyclox - it takes no time at all.
Click ‘Nominate a charity’
Enter ‘Cyclox’
Select the ‘Health’ category
movementforgood.com/draws/1000

Thanks @janrosenow.bsky.social and @carbonbrief.org for challenging this disinformation.
We had an air source heat pump installed in 2023. Our fuel bills in 2024 & 2025 have gone down by 20% compared with 2023. And going off gas results in a huge carbon dioxide reduction alongside.

No increase in car parking at Warneford Park! Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and University of Oxford are jointly planning a major redevelopment of Warneford Park as detailed on the Warneford Park Consultation website, which will result in a ...

Please sign this @theactionnetwork.bsky.social petition: No increase in car parking at Warneford Park! The increase of nearly 50% will increase congestion and goes against the city transport policy. Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/no...

Exciting times! Hope all goes to plan 🤞

Exclusive: £10m of Government funding for Oxford was sent back A £10m grant for infrastructure in north Oxford was returned to Government unspent – just as a safe cycleway on Woodstock Road, to be funded by a very similar Government grant, was cancelled due to a ...

This makes an agonising read. What an opportunity lost. And information was withheld from Oxfordshire County Council 😦 oxfordclarion.uk/exclusive-10...
All uncovered by @oxfordclarion.bsky.social

Wind and solar used to play a niche role when I started to work on energy in 2004.

Last year they overtook fossil generation in the EU for the first time.

East London residents win sensational victory in fight to save low-traffic schemes London-wide implications for LTNs as Court of Appeal rules that Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman acted unlawfully in trying to ignore Sadiq Khan’s transport masterplan

This is such good news! Well done @saveoursaferstreets.org for pursuing this action 👏👏👏 www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

"Our investigation also found huge variation in the way councils record repairs across the country"

Yes, potholes are a meaningless thing to measure, but politicians and the media talk about them incessantly.

Graph showing road collisions within the Cowley LTNs declining between 2015 and 2024

Graph showing decline in casualties across LTNs and boundary roads, with significant decline in 2023 and 2024. 2020 and 2021 are shaded paler due to Covid lockdown.

The Cowley Low Traffic Neighbourhoods have saved 30 collisions over 3 years within the LTNs and boundary roads according to latest casualty data, analysed by @cohsat.bsky.social

The Cowley LTNs were implemented in April 2021, after sporadic coronavirus lockdowns between March 2020 and March 2021.

🚨 BREAKING:
A legal bid to halt Oxford’s congestion charge has been turned down. The High Court today refused an application for judicial review by Open Roads For Oxford Ltd, which had raised £60,000 “from private donations, transfers from aligned funds, and our GoFundMe campaign” to bring the case.

"Motorists don't pay for roads any more than anybody else": Council shuts down backlash to 20mph speed limit to "support new cycling route" + more on the live blog By lunchtime you'll be closer to the weekend than the start of the week, so join Dan Alexander in the live blog procrastination station as he distracts you with another eclectic mix of news, views, re...

James from Wokingham needs a medal! Highways authorities should clone him. road.cc/content/news...

Pavement parking outside the Westgate Centre where there is literally a 1,000-space car park. Photo via Badly Parked Oxford.

“Pavements are for pedestrians, not vehicles,” says Oxfordshire County Council’s Cllr Andrew Gant as the Government introduces new rules on pavement parking where councils will be allowed to introduce and enforce a ban: “We welcome the opportunity to apply for the powers to enforce this.”

Nearly 630 drivers dodge jail over their role in death crashes An average of ten a month are given community service orders, suspended sentences or fines instead of being sent to prison for triggering killer car crashes.

Let alone their future driving permissions…

Why is road crime treated differently to other crime? IMO complacency and acceptance of road danger as inevitable have dulled accountability. Strategy isn’t enough — we need a fundamental root & branch cultural reset.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Tile whipping: The eco-friendly sport taking over the Netherlands The practice is easing pressure on drainage systems, one of the Netherlands’ growing climate-induced challenges.

Tile whipping “Tegelwippen” has become a national competition in the Netherlands. We could do this here to help reverse the trend of paving over front gardens for off-road parking www.euronews.com/green/2025/0...

Happy New Year Mark 🎉 Thanks for all your help telling Oxford how to do stuff!

A letter from me on the oxford cable car idea and how we should consider it seriously

My letter to the Oxford Mail today on… the cable car. 🚡🚠💚

Sorry to miss it - but will join the seminar later!👋

The Ride-Hail Utopia That Got Stuck in Traffic Uber and Lyft said they would ease congestion. Instead they made it worse.

Don’t forget, for many years #Uber insisted loudly that it would reduce traffic in cities. Instead, Uber drivers cruise without passengers 40% of the time. Uber and Lyft no longer claim they reduce traffic. They now admit they increase congestion.

So much for “making cities better…”

Via @wsj.com

Walking — Local Voices | Oxfordshire Residents on Sustainable Travel | Oxford Travel Options

'Read the stories of Oxfordshire residents who make walking or wheeling a part of their everyday lives.'

www.oxfordtraveloptions.co.uk/local-voices...

These are lovely! There are many more everyday stories about getting around Oxford by bus, bike, and train, too.

Line graph shows car ownership in London falling while it continues to rise everywhere else in England

Onwards and downwards to the future, fellow Londoners! 🚀

This year has broken wind and solar energy generation records.

True freedom. Being able to ride a bike safely to get to the shops, your friend, the hospital....can we do this in #Oxford?

A view across a row of steeply sloping ramp kerbs forming a ramp to a red block paved speed table.

British entrance kerb units forming the ramps for a speed table outside The Rusty Bicycle, Magdalen Road, Oxford.

Installed in 1990 as part of a wider traffic calming and traffic management project in the area.

Nothing is new under the highways sun.

#FridayFun

Written Statement: Side Road Zebra Crossings in Wales | GOV.WALES Ken Skates, Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales

Big news from Wales.

Side road zebra crossings as an option where both roads are 20mph are on their way 🦓

Another tool in the box, but I'd recommend contextual use because they are not a universal solution.

www.gov.wales/written-stat...

Heat pumps are the most efficiency heating technology ever invented.

That's because they harvest, compress and transport pre-existing heat from the air, the ground or the water.

Compared to a gas boiler heat pumps deliver ~4x more heat for each unit of energy inout.