Taxis must meet ultra-low emission target by 2026

Taxis and other private hire vehicles in Oxford will need to meet an ultra-low emission standard at start of 2026

Proposals to further delay the introduction of low emission taxis on a city's roads by an extra year have been rejected.

Oxford City Council agreed to delay the plan until the start of 2026 at a meeting in February.

But the City of Oxford Licenced Taxicab Association (COLTA) wanted the policy to come into effect in January 2027.

The new policy will require taxis and other private hire vehicles in Oxford to meet an ultra-low emission standard.

COLTA secretary Sajad Khan said: "As a trade, we don't think the one year compromise was a balanced judgment of the facts available to all of us."

Sajad Khan is secretary of the City of Oxford Licenced Taxicab Association

He highlighted the impact of COVID-19 on the city's taxi drivers, saying they had "lost four productive years".

Mr Khan added that since the pandemic, the trade had "suffered due to the unimaginable rise in living costs due to the financial crisis and very high interest rates".

The taxi association also argued that the introduction of LTNs and closure of Botley Road "created a huge disruption" and caused many drivers' earnings to "drastically" reduce.

Last month, at a general purpose licensing committee meeting, councillors agreed to delay the planned introduction in January 2025 by a year.

Louise Upton, who is the cabinet member for planning and healthier communities, said that the council had to balance "the very real needs of the taxi trade against the health needs of our residents", and that the original extension of one year was a "compromised solution" that "seemed about right".

A council spokesperson added that roughly a third of licensed Hackney Carriage taxis in the city had already moved to electric vehicles.