Sunday shoppers are to pay the same for Oxford city centre car parking as weekly users.

At present people using the Westgate, Worcester Street and Oxpens car parks on Sundays pay a flat rate of £1.20 until 1pm.

City councillors have voted to increase all parking charges by 5.2 per cent.

And Sunday morning charges, currently kept low as a concession to churchgoers, will go up even more, bringing them in line with the rest of the week. The increased charges will pay for car park security guards.

Highways and traffic committee chairman Alex Hollingsworth said: "There are as many people coming into the city for Sunday shopping as Saturday shopping so we can't keep the situation as it is. "The traders don't like it because they don't get sufficient turnover. You get people coming in when it's cheap in the morning and a lot of them aren't shoppers; they might be tourists or people just pottering around.

"The spaces get full and people who are coming to shop can't use them."

He accepted that those coming to church in the city centre would face an increase but said council officers would talk with church members to see if an agreement could be reached.

Richard Colebrook, of Oxford Community Church which meets in the George Street cinema, said: "It is not just a problem for our congregation but for a lot of people coming to church. It's going to be a massive hike."

Story date: Friday 05 February

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