OCC responds to legal challenge – and fails to address core concerns

On 21 October 2025, Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) issued its formal response to the pre-action protocol letter we sent them on 7 October 2025.

While the Council’s 17-page letter formally replies to the issues raised, it fails to meaningfully address the core legal and evidential concerns at the heart of our challenge. OCC insists that its decision to approve six temporary congestion charging points was lawful, proportionate, and based on “a fair and effective consultation” - claims which are simply not supported by the facts.

Among other things:

• OCC continues to rely on outdated evidence drawn from the 2022 traffic filter proposals, rather than commissioning new assessments for the 2025 charging scheme;

• It dismisses widespread public opposition, claiming that 7,000 consultation responses “speak for themselves” while refusing to acknowledge that the majority were negative;

• It sidesteps the issue of predetermination, asserting that councillors “kept open minds” despite clear indications that the decision to proceed had already been made before the consultation began;

• Its Equalities Impact Assessment is admitted to have been recycled from 2022, with minimal update — a position that effectively confirms one of ORFO’s grounds of challenge; and

• Rather than engaging with the evidence of procedural unfairness, OCC warns of “serious costs consequences” for those who seek to hold it to account.

The response provides no new data, no fresh analysis, and no serious engagement with the documented failures of process or the contradictions in its own evidence base.

OCC’s position, in short, demonstrates the very culture of closed decision-making, inadequate scrutiny, and disregard for public input that this challenge seeks to expose.

ORFO remains confident in its grounds for judicial review and is now preparing to issue proceedings.

You can read Oxfordshire County Council’s full response here.