Sir – You have invited debate about the decisions by Oxfordshire County Council to increase both its on-street and residents’ parking charges. I have to say I regard both with dismay.

The fact that charges have not risen for several years is surely a cause for celebration, rather than a rationale for steeply hiking them right now.

I simply cannot see the connection being claimed between the 50 per cent increase in the charge for a 30-minute stay and the city’s park-and-ride services. Is anyone really going to use the park-and-ride if they plan to spend less than 30 minutes in the city? Has anyone considered the case for giving members of Oxford’s residents’ parking schemes free access to on-street parking bays for up to 30 minutes – long enough to nip into a single shop or collect a parcel from the post office?

I can understand the desire for residents’ parking schemes to be self-financing, but when the costs exceed the revenue shouldn’t the first action be to look at how the costs might be reduced?

Oxford now has a thoroughly confusing mosaic of different parking controls in different parts of the city at different times of day.

Oxford has a long-standing and hugely successful relationship with the automotive industry, and a track record of innovation – home to the UK’s first park-and-ride scheme in the 1960s.

But it is hard to see these latest price increases as anything other than a dip into the pockets of Oxford residents who still, from time-to-time, need to use their cars.

Tom Purves
Oxford