Open Roads for Oxford issues formal legal challenge to Oxfordshire County Council

On 7 October 2025, represented by Bates Wells, we issued a Pre-Action Protocol letter to Oxfordshire County Council.

This marks the formal first step in seeking Judicial Review of the Council’s decision on 10 September 2025 to implement six temporary congestion charging points across Oxford.

The letter sets out detailed grounds for challenge, including:

• Failure to conduct a fair and lawful consultation, contrary to the legal standards known as the Gunning Principles;

• Predetermination and bias, with the Council appearing to have made its decision before the consultation concluded;

• Use of outdated evidence, drawn from earlier “traffic filter” proposals rather than from fresh analysis of the new charging scheme; and

• Failure to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty, by not properly assessing how the policy affects groups with protected characteristics.

ORFO believes that the Council’s approach was procedurally flawed and substantively unjustified, and that Oxford deserves policies based on evidence, transparency, and genuine public engagement - not predetermined decisions.

Please see here in full.