Almost £60,000 of taxpayers' money was "wasted" consulting on Oxford's controversial paid-for parking permit scheme.

The Oxford Mail has discovered the final cost of the consultation project was £58,700.

The Tory-led Oxfordshire County Council's plans to charge homeowners in the city at least £40 for the right to park cars outside their houses prompted almost universal opposition.

However, the process has been branded a "waste of money and a joke" by a senior county councillor.

Headington & Marston Liberal Democrat councillor Gail Bones said the fallout from the consultation - in which County Hall went against the majority of respondents and decided to charge - had damaged the authority's reputation.

She said: "The cost of the consultation must inevitably be seen as a waste of time and money and a joke as so many residents are unhappy with what they see as a lack of preparedness of the county officers and administration to listen to their input.

"Their opportunities to contribute were severely limited and, in my opinion, unreasonably so. Thanks to the poor quality of the London Road consultation - and the blatant ignoring of the outcome of the consultation on parking charges - the county now suffers from a poor reputation when it comes to consultation."

Ms Bones received support from residents who opposed the permit scheme.

Tony Augarde, of Carlton Road in North Oxford, said: "That is all paid for out of our council tax.

"We paid for the consultation which the county council simply ignores and I'm fairly disgusted about the way they behave.

"Our money is being wasted again and again by very short-sighted decisions."

Kim Annely, of Knights Road, Blackbird Leys, collected more than 600 signatures for a petition against the parking proposals.

She said: "I don't think they are listening to what people want anyway. They made their decision before the consultation went out.

"It's a huge waste of taxpayers' money and I will never vote Conservative."

Richard Dix, the county council's assistant head of transport, said: "This was a statutory consultation because an amendment to the traffic regulation orders is needed to enable charges for permits to be made.

"The regulations set down how statutory consultation is carried out and who is consulted and it is standard practice for the county council to contact those residents who might most directly be affected by a proposed traffic order. The size of the consultation was set by these factors."

Earlier this month opponents to county council plans to charge for permits lost their latest attempt to derail the scheme.

The bid to postpone the project failed after Tory county councillors - all of whom represent wards outside the city - said there was nothing wrong with charging and the authority was not obliged to listen to negative consultation responses.

Their denial that the scheme was flawed caused anger among those who had turned up to speak at a County Hall meeting.

THE COST OF CONSULTING ON OXFORD'S CPZ SCHEME:

* Printing of consultation material - £3,346 * Postage and packaging - £12,308 * Pre-paid envelopes - £1,408 * Street notices - £3,092 * Fixing street notices - £1,692 * Public notices - £2,568 * Consultation handling and analysis - £34,286