Oxford’s Economic Strategy creates new apprenticeships, affordable business space, fairer wages and more investment locally

Oxford’s Economic Strategy is about using the city’s economic strengths to ensure they benefit more local people and businesses – including through fairer wages, investment in skills and affordable business space – while also making Oxford a zero-carbon city. 

The strategy has been split into three pillars of work:  

• Inclusive economy: seeks to address economic inequality and develop new approaches to support the least advantaged people in the city 
• Global impact: seeks to build on Oxford’s strengths as an innovative and impactful economy, developing ideas that will change the world in areas such as life sciences, energy and social enterprise  
• Zero carbon: seeks to develop innovation and knowledge to drive the global and local low carbon economy and embed zero-carbon principles in future decisions, whilst supporting business and residents to do the same  

The strategy, which covers the period 2022 to 2032, was agreed by the City Council’s Cabinet in June 2022 and has ongoing oversight provided by the Oxford Economic Growth Steering Board.

In May, PwC ranked Oxford as the top performing city in the UK for the second year in its Good Growth for Cities Index. Oxford outperformed other cities in terms of jobs, income and skills, alongside life expectancy, the environment and safety. 

However, Oxford still has significant deprivation in some areas. The Government’s 2019 Indices of Deprivation report found that 10 of Oxford’s 83 neighbourhood areas were among the 20% most deprived areas in England. 

Inclusive economy

The City Council’s key focus is to ensure Oxford’s growing economy works for all Oxford residents, particularly those living in areas of the city with the highest levels of deprivation. 

In the last year, the City Council has worked with partners to achieve the following areas of work in the ‘inclusive economy’ pillar: 

• The City Council created the Oxford Living Wage, which is set at 95% of the London Living Wage and aims to provide fairer wage that better reflects the cost of living in Oxford, in 2009. There are now 120 employers paying the Oxford Living Wage 
• In November, the City Council agreed a new plan to buy more of its goods and services from businesses that ‘do good’ for Oxford residents. The City Council spends about £150m on goods, services and construction projects every year 
• The City Council and more than 100 organisations across the county created the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership. In January, the Partnership launched a charter that sets out pledges that signatories can make to help create a fairer economy in Oxford.
• In February, the City Council announced the results of its government-funded Kickstart programme to support young people into work and training. Since 2020, the City Council created 137 job placements, creating new jobs for 71 young people in Oxford
• In February, the City Council committed almost £7m to revitalise Oxford Covered Market, which provides affordable retail space in the heart of Oxford city centre 
• In 2020, the City Council commissioned Makespace Oxford to revitalise vacant shops and buildings following the Covid-19 pandemic. The Meanwhile in Oxfordshire project saw 27 vacant units filled, supporting more than 50 organisations and providing at least 150 jobs. The second phase, which runs until 2025, aims to make the project self-funding and could see more than 100 organisations supported  
• The City Council is part of Owned by Oxford, a community programme to distribute wealth more fairly across the city. The partnership has supported eight grassroots-led community organisations to develop their trading operations, and has engaged with many more to understand and reduce the barriers to creating a more inclusive local economy

There is also a significant amount of work that other organisations are doing across Oxford to create a more inclusive economy. This includes a £1.7m project from the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership to hire new apprentices; an Oxfordshire County Council project to increase digital inclusion; and Oxford businesses applying to become B Corps, a certification to show the business meets a high standard of social and environmental performance.

Global impact 

Oxford already had a world-leading knowledge-based economy – including research, education and health sectors – before the profile of the city was raised further by the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccine was developed in Oxford and went on to save some six million lives worldwide. 

The City Council is working with other landowners to grow and develop the knowledge-based economy in Oxford, in particular by creating start-up space for entrepreneurs, many of them from Oxford’s two universities, to create and grow their innovative new businesses in the city. 

There are significant economic developments taking place across Oxford, including: 

• Thomas White Oxford, the development company of St John’s College, is currently building Oxford North, which will include new offices, laboratories and homes in a new “innovation district” 
• Planning permission was granted in January to create three new buildings in Oxford Science Park to provide headquarters – office and laboratory space – for leading science and technology companies  
• The City Council and Nuffield College’s joint venture, OXWED, has submitted outline plans to redevelop Oxpens to create almost 100,000m2 of employment space, alongside 234 new homes (50% will be affordable), 258 student rooms and a 250-bed hotel 
• The University of Oxford has some £4bn of funding, which will be used in part to redevelop Osney Mead industrial estate to create a new science park featuring state-of-the-art laboratory space 

The City Council, as the planning authority for Oxford, is involved in all these developments. However, on top of this, the City Council’s work to develop the ‘global impact’ of the Oxford Economy Strategy includes: 

• The City Council and other landowners have created the West End Landowner Forum to discuss proposals to redevelop and improve the areas around Oxford station, Frideswide Square, Oxpens and Osney Mead. A supplementary planning document outlining how the West End and Osney Mead will be redeveloped was adopted by the City Council in November 2022
• The City Council has consulted on plans to build a new river bridge for pedestrians and cyclists to link the two regeneration areas of Oxpens and Osney Mead and the project should get underway soon
• The City Council is working with Network Rail and Oxfordshire County Council to redevelop Oxford Station to enable more passenger and freight trains to connect across Oxfordshire and the country 
• In December, the City Council approved a £4.56m package to fund the detailed design and feasibility required for the reopening of the Cowley Branch Line to passengers. The line will link Oxford Science Park, ARC Oxford (formerly Oxford Business Park) and local communities to the city centre and beyond to London, improving connectivity and public transport options and reducing the need for unnecessary car journeys

Zero carbon

The City Council declared a climate emergency in 2019 and later that year became the first city in the UK to hold a Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change.

Since then, the City Council has worked with partners to ensure Oxford is a world leader in tackling the climate emergency. Work has included: 

• The City Council and Oxfordshire County Council created the world’s first Zero Emission Zone pilot to tackle air pollution in Oxford city centre. The pilot, which launched in 2022, bans petrol and diesel vehicles from entering a small number of city centre streets 
• The City Council worked with private and public partners to open the Oxford Energy Superhub – Europe’s most powerful electric vehicle charging hub – at Redbridge Park and Ride last year
• The City Council secured £7.6m of government funding in March to retrofit 300 council homes to make them more energy efficient. The City Council is also working with partners, including Samsung, to provide affordable air source heat pumps for 150 homes in Rose Hill 
• ODS, the City Council’s wholly-owned social enterprise, has created an electric vehicle charging solution for residents without driveways. The Gul-e system is now being used in Bristol and Bromley  
• The City Council has provided Low Carbon Hub with nearly £3.4m of funding to help create the Ray Valley Solar Park near Bicester – the largest community-owned solar park in the UK 
• The City Council brought together the Zero Carbon Oxford Partnership – a group of Oxford’s leading businesses, universities, health providers and councils – to help get Oxford to net zero by 2040

In June, the City Council won the ‘Leadership in Responding to the Climate Emergency’ award at the MJ Awards and the ‘Climate Response’ award at the LGC awards. 

An economy for everyone 

“We are very fortunate in Oxford to have a very successful economy, with hundreds of millions of pounds being invested to create new jobs in Oxford North, Osney Mead, Oxpens and Oxford Science Park. These jobs are being created in Oxford because our two universities attract and create opportunities for research and innovation.

“Our goal at Oxford City Council is to ensure our economy works for everyone who lives in Oxford, including those who live in the less affluent parts of the city, and that the investment brings with it a reduction in the city’s carbon emissions. 

“To this end, we are working with businesses, schools, universities and community groups on dozens of projects, including creating apprenticeship opportunities for young people, affordable business space for Oxford’s entrepreneurs, fairer wages and investing more of our collective money locally. We have also ensured that planned expansions of employment sites are sustainably located near to existing or new transport hubs such as Oxford station, the Cowley Branch Line and good bus routes.

“Whilst lots of positive progress has been made, there continue to be major challenges to bringing about a truly inclusive and low-carbon local economy in Oxford. The council looks forward to working with partners and stakeholders to hone and deliver more of the economic strategy in the coming years.”

Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council