In August, as a county councillor, I was able to inspect the Oxford residents' 5,000-plus responses to the parking charge consultation. The replies were enlightening and one or two I couldn't repeat in a family newspaper.

However, there was one comment that I would like to share with your readers. A lady from North Oxford said that she had paid a lot of money for her house and consequently could park "all" her cars in the drive.

She said that people who had bought "cheap" houses and had to park in the street should therefore have to pay.

Assuming for a moment that this was a genuine response and not an intentional wind-up, it illustrates the yawning chasm between the beliefs of those who support the county council view that we should pay for the supposed privilege of parking in the street where we live, and those, like me, who think that visitors to the city should contribute to the maintenance of parking controls.

Whichever side of this argument people are on, one problem remains - there are no Conservative councillors representing Oxford wards and divisions, either on the city council or on the county council.

The tax will be imposed by Conservatives representing the leafy villages that make up the bulk of the county.

In these circumstances, it is dangerous to impose this tax on the city after the consultation revealed that at least 70 per cent of respondents were against it.

It amounts to taxation without representation.

John Sanders (Councillor), Labour, Littlemore and Cowley, Oxfordshire County Council