COMMUTERS and shoppers will have to pay £1.50 a day to park at three of Oxford’s park and ride car parks.

The new fees will be introduced at Pear Tree, Redbridge and Seacourt car parks as early as October after the collapse of a subsidy deal between the county and city councils. Users have not paid to use the sites since 2008.

If councillors back the new charges, users will have to pay £1.50 a day, £7.50 for a week-long pass, and £30 for four weeks from October 1.

But parking at the two county council-owned sites – Thornhill and Water Eaton – will remain free for commuters and shoppers, although a new charge for London commuters is planned.

In 2008, Oxfordshire County Council took over the running of the city council’s three car parks, subsidising them to bring them in line with their own sites by axeing the £1-a-day fee.

Under the agreement, the county paid the city £250,000 a year to make up for the loss of revenue, and covered the £700,000 annual running costs.

But cash-strapped County Hall is now unable to afford the arrangement, and has handed control of the three car parks back to the city.

City council leader Bob Price said the new charge would cover the sites’ running costs and replace the annual subsidy.

He said: “The whole ethos of park and ride right back to the 1970s when it started was that it should be free for the ‘park’ and the ‘ride’ should be charged.

“If we were in a better financial position and the level of Government grant had not been cut by 30 per cent, we would be keen to try to keep the price lower than £1.50 or make it free.

“That would be the aspiration, but realistically, in the current financial situation and given the state of the national finances, I am a bit pessimistic about getting back in that position.”

He added: “We expect some resistance but probably not a huge amount.

“The car parks are usually pretty full, and we do not think that level of charge will make a massive difference.”

But Graham Jones, from Oxford traders group ROX, said: “It means we are back in the old situation where people are having to pay for the car park and then again for the bus.

“I hope this will not put people off coming to Oxford, but at this time, it is the last thing businesses need in Oxford.

“The message is not getting through to the city council that the threat is growing to city centres from the internet and out-of-town shopping centres where parking is free.”

And he warned commuters could flock to the free Water Eaton car park rather than pay at Peartree or Seacourt.

The county council transport chief, Rodney Rose, said Water Eaton and Thornhill would remain free for Oxford traffic, but there would be new charges for people using the car parks as a pick-up point to head out of Oxfordshire.

He said those had not yet been decided.

More than a million cars a year use the five park and ride sites, with a fifth of Oxford’s rush hour commuters using them each morning.