EAST Oxford residents will face yet another round of consultation about a controversial parking scheme.

The plan to introduce a controlled parking zone (CPZ) in the Magdalen Road area was put on ice yesterday by the county’s transport chief.

Oxfordshire County Council will now seek the views of 1,726 households for the sixth time, after deep divisions over the proposals were aired during a meeting at County Hall yesterday.

The council has already spent £160,000 on five previous consultations, including £11,000 for the latest one last December.

Last night, some residents called for the council to draw up a new scheme from scratch.

The council wants to introduce a CPZ to cut commuter parking, congestion and to stop emergency services vehicles being blocked by badly parked vehicles.

Residents were told they would have to pay £40 per vehicle, per year for a parking permit, although this would rise to £50.

The last round of consultation found 61 per cent of residents raised minor or major objections to the scheme, which would result in 91 fewer parking spaces in the streets affected.

Anthony Cheke, 64, who has lived in Hurst Street since 1979, said: “This is a very messy result and now we’re going to have another consultation.

“It’s overkill and people are going to get consultation fatigue, but the law requires it if they’re going to keep changing the boundaries of the CPZ.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s a disaster, because it means we’re going to have more delays, although we’ll get a CPZ in the end.”

Other residents supported the call for further consultation, which was made by the council’s cabinet member for transport implementation, Rodney Rose.

CPZ supporter Cecilia Baird, 59, a St Mary’s Road resident for 26 years, added: “It’s getting ridiculous. We’re all very angry about having to be consulted again but democracy has to be seen to be done.”

Dominic Woodfield, 39, of Silver Road, who opposes the proposals, said: “This decision is better than implementing it. The scheme is fundamentally flawed and to have introduced it today would have been undemocratic.”

The consultation showed a clear split between residents south of Magdalen Road, where in some streets 91 per cent of households opposed the scheme, compared with streets north of Magdalen Road where 83 per cent supported it.

The council will now re-consult on a zone excluding properties in Magdalen Road and to the south but including streets north of Magdalen Road. The council confirmed 511 households in Iffley Fields have been removed from the proposed zone.

Mr Rose said: “We could just have agreed to put the scheme in today so the roads are safer but that’s not what democracy is about.”

A CPZ scheme for the Divinity Road area will be delayed until a final decision is made on the Magdalen Road proposal.