OXFORD residents face paying to park at some city parks, to get rid of rats and for disposal of their garden waste, while 100 jobs are set to go under city council budget cuts.

The council yesterday unveiled £10m in proposed cuts alongside increased and new charges to boost its income.

Prices at several city car parks will be hiked while visitors to some city parks will have to pay and display for the first time. And, despite its environmental ambitions, a £35 charge for collecting green waste will be introduced to raise £279,000.

Residents will have to pay fees for pest control, while the out-of-hours noise service will also be cut back.

Yesterday, the Labour administration running the council told its employees that 100 jobs would be lost over the next four years, as it prepares to publish its draft budget for 2011-12 on Monday.

Senior councillors estimate half will be made through ‘natural wastage’, but compulsory redundancies have not been ruled out.

Deputy leader Ed Turner said: “We have a central government intent on wrecking local public services, taking the axe to local council funding and hell-bent on hitting the poorest in the community hardest.

“We are doing our best to try to cope with this and reduce the impact on people, especially the most vulnerable.”

Remote-controlled gates will be installed at city cemeteries to save the £9,000 it costs to lock them by hand, and advertising space will be sold on the council website and even on the side of dog waste bins. Users of city bowling greens will be asked to mow the grass themselves in future, saving the council another £30,000 a year.The pot of money for community grants has also been cut from £1.7m to £1.4m, but Mr Turner said councillors “had bent over backwards” to ensure that budget was not hit even harder.

Three council street wardens, who provide community assistance on city estates, will be axed to save £81,000 and council funding for police community support officers will be cut by £62,000.

On the plus side, council tax will be frozen next year with the help of central government cash. But it is then set to rise by three per cent each year for three years.

Mr Turner added: “We have tried to share the pain around and to secure as much as we can in terms of efficiency savings to safeguard frontline services.”

Matthew Harrison, assistant branch secretary of town hall trade union Unison, said he feared the 100 job cuts were the “tip of the iceberg”.

He said: “Overall it’s depressing. It has been imposed by central government and cuts this fast are going to be detrimental to Oxford.

“The terms and conditions for employees will be altered and staff will have their incomes frozen for two years, but I think the majority of members will take that on the basis it will save their jobs.

He added: “We will fight tooth and nail against all compulsory redundancies and both management and the Labour administration know that.”

The council is putting aside contingency funds to guard against changes in housing benefits and absorb reductions in council tax benefits.

But the council also faces pressures from a £700,000 black hole in this year’s car parking income and from reduced interest on investments.

The budget will be put to a vote of the full council next February.