Oxford City Council agrees new safety standard for construction vehicles in the city

The CLOCS (Construction Logistics and Community Safety) Standard will require developers of large construction sites to plan the movement of their HGVs to keep them away from busy or high-risk areas, such as school gates during drop-off times, as well as setting minimum safety standards for their fleet.

The standard, which was created by the UK’s construction and fleet industry, aims to eliminate collisions with cyclists and pedestrians, and improve congestion and air pollution by reducing vehicle journeys overall.

Over 5,500 pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists were injured in a collision with construction vehicles on Britain’s roads in 2018.

Since 2020, four cyclists have been killed in collisions with HGVs in Oxford.

The Standard supports Oxfordshire County Council’s commitment – known as Vision Zero – to eliminate deaths and serious injuries from road traffic collisions in Oxfordshire by 2050.

The City Council’s cabinet decided it will sign up to the CLOCS Standard at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting (19/4).

CLOCS Standard

The CLOCS Standard aims to bring together best practice to create one industry standard that can be implemented by regulators – such as planning authorities – contractors or fleet operators.

Transport for London, Transport for Greater Manchester, all London’s borough councils and Cardiff Council – alongside dozens of developers, fleet operators and vehicle manufacturers – have signed up to the industry standard. 

The University of Oxford became a CLOCS champion in 2022. The university now requires its development projects to use contractors that sign up to the standard.

Oxford City Council’s role

The City Council, as the planning authority for Oxford, can add conditions that must be completed before work on the development starts. The City Council already can and does add conditions on vehicle movement for larger developments.

Signing up to become a CLOCS champions means that, going forwards, larger developments in Oxford will be encouraged to include the more rigorous CLOCS Standard in their construction logistics plan before work can start on the site.

The construction logistics plan will define the routes and times that HGVs can access the construction site – keeping them away from high concentrations of cyclists and pedestrians – and describe how the developers plan to mitigate risks to cyclists and pedestrians. It could also help reduce congestion and air pollution by requiring construction vehicles to avoid peak times or combine trips. 

Full details of how the CLOCS Standard will impact the planning applications and construction vehicles of large developments will be drawn up by the City Council over the coming months.

The City Council’s housing company, OX Place, will also request that its main contractors sign up to the CLOCS Standard.

“Pedestrians and cyclists have the right to feel safe when they travel around Oxford.

“Becoming a CLOCS champion will drive up standards by requiring larger developers to consider how their HGVs are moving around Oxford, and improve the safety standards of their vehicles.

“We hope this decision will encourage other regulators, developers and fleet operators around Oxfordshire to become CLOCS champions, so that together we can ensure no cyclists or pedestrians are killed or injured by construction vehicles on our roads.”

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery