Permits set for ‘early next year’

On Tuesday, ruling Conservative county councillors voted unanimously to charge people in Oxford £40 a year for their residents' parking permits at a meeting of the council's cabinet.

Richard Dix, the county council's head of transport, said the arrangements for introducing the scheme were now being finalised.

He added: "We need first to complete the legal processes for making the traffic orders that bring in the charging provisions as amended at the cabinet.

"This is likely to take a couple of months. We also need to be sure we have the administrative arrangements in place.

"When all is ready to go, likely to be early next year, the first payments that residents will have to make will be when their permits come up for annual renewal.

"The renewal dates are different for each zone to spread the workload out across the year, so it will take most of next year before everyone will have made their first payment for a residents parking permit.

"Contractors asking for discretionary authorisation to park in a permit bay or against waiting restrictions will have to pay for each request from the date on which the charges are brought in."

The nine councillors in the Cabinet, who all represent areas outside the city, decided to go ahead with the proposals after a citywide 26,000-household consultation, which 5,000 people responded to.

The survey revealed that two thirds of respondents were opposed to the plans. OXFORD'S new parking permit system - condemned as unfair by the majority of residents in a consultation - will come into place early next year.

On Tuesday, ruling Conservative county councillors voted unanimously to charge people in Oxford £40 a year for their residents' parking permits at a meeting of the council's cabinet.

Richard Dix, the county council's head of transport, said the arrangements for introducing the scheme were now being finalised.

He added: "We need first to complete the legal processes for making the traffic orders that bring in the charging provisions as amended at the cabinet.

"This is likely to take a couple of months. We also need to be sure we have the administrative arrangements in place.

"When all is ready to go, likely to be early next year, the first payments that residents will have to make will be when their permits come up for annual renewal.

"The renewal dates are different for each zone to spread the workload out across the year, so it will take most of next year before everyone will have made their first payment for a residents' parking permit.

"Contractors asking for discretionary authorisation to park in a permit bay or against waiting restrictions will have to pay for each request from the date on which the charges are brought in."

The nine councillors in the Cabinet, who all represent areas outside the city, decided to go ahead with the proposals after a citywide 26,000-household consultation, which 5,000 people responded to.

The survey revealed that two thirds of respondents were opposed to the plans.