In trying to distinguish between fact and fiction over Oxfordshire County Council's threat to impose parking charges on Oxford's residents, county councillor Neil Fawcett is selective with his evidence (Oxford Mail, March 3).
It is not fiction that residents' parking schemes benefit everyone by deterring out-of-town drivers from parking in the city's residential streets, or that parking charges, once introduced, could be increased at will, or that the threat of parking charges has been made repeatedly since 1996, despite being thrown out in the face of overwhelming public opposition.
On all these points, Mr Fawcett is silent.
He also appears confused.
He argues that "people living in areas which face severe parking pressure should not have to pay for their misfortune".
This presumably includes such areas as Headington, which is under pressure from Oxford Brookes University and the John Radcliffe Hospital, and Jericho, where out-of-town shoppers and commuters try to park because of its central location.
Yet, in his next paragraph, he argues that "it is unfair that people in one part of the county have to pay while those in another do not".
So would residents in Headington and Jericho be made to pay this extra charge on top of their council tax, or not?
He also refers to consultation "if or when it happens".
Is it going to happen or not?
Will his party be campaigning in the forthcoming elections to impose parking charges on Oxford's residents?
Voters have a right to know. Nigel Hiscock, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford
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