We should not be surprised to see Oxfordshire County Council increasing the parking charges for the on-street spaces it manages in Oxford.

Its reasoning, it says, is to bring them into line with those of Oxford City Council for car parks such as the Westgate and Gloucester Green.

While it may not admit it, we suspect there is an element of revenue generation at work here. And it would not surprise us to see the city council return to its own charges in the very near future with the same aim in mind.

The fact is, and our civic leaders can see this more than most, there is a storm gathering for our local authorities.

The new Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition has promised a council-tax freeze. Prime Minister David Cameron promises, in the pages of this newspaper, that there will be support available to councils “if they keep their tax down”.

That does not quite sound like a promise of extra funds for every council, indeed, with the current state of the country’s finances it is hard to see how that could be delivered anyway.

No, our local authorities are facing a squeeze on their income like never before. If council tax is not going to go up to offset a tightening in cash from Whitehall, then fees and charges are the only recourse for our districts and the county.

Increases in parking charges may only be the start of it. We could also see an increase in charges for many other services.

There have been some encouraging noises from the new coalition about devolving greater powers down to local councils and neighbourhoods. This would be a welcome move, but history suggests we should not celebrate too soon.

This sort of change has been promised before, but we have yet to see a Government willing to relinquish centralised control in favour of greater local freedom.

In itself, the promise of a council-tax freeze from Mr Cameron is an example of central interference in local affairs. Why should Mr Cameron be promising us a council-tax freeze when that tax is set by local councils voted in democratically on a local manifesto?

A freeze — or not — in council tax should be locally promised and locally delivered if that is what the local electorate votes for.