A bid to double the cost of park and ride parking charges in Oxford has been dropped.

Last year, Oxford City Council's ruling Liberal Democrat/Green administration announced it was planning to increase park and ride car parking fees from 50p to £1 at the city's park and rides. Parking fees are in addition to a £1.50 return bus fare.

But county council highways officers said they were opposed to the move because it went against the Oxford Transport Strategy, which aims to reduce the number of cars in the city centre.

Yesterday, the city council's Liberal Democrat leader Corinna Redman said they had now decided on a fallback position of a 70p parking charge - a 20p increase

The city council could force through an increase in all the city's park and rides, without the agreement of the county council, except at Thornhill in Headington, which is outside the city boundaries.

Cllr Redman said: "We are concerned at the considerable subsidy being paid by the city council taxpayers to cover park and ride costs.

"In agreeing to consider the possibility of a 70p charge, we have taken on board the concerns of retailers, who have opposed the rise to £1.

"We are also instructing officers to pursue plans for single-ticketing at park and rides, which will make the service more efficient and more attractive to users."

Eddie Luck, the county council's assistant director of transport development, said: "We are not saying there can never be any increase because you have to take into account inflation. We think single-ticketing is the way forward"