BUSINESSES and residents in Oxford could face major new parking restrictions sooner than expected after plans for a crackdown were speeded up.

Yesterday Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet recommended making a workplace parking levy- a charge on parking spaces owned by businesses in Oxford - top of its priority list meaning it could be come into effect as early as 2019.

The levy is set to be combined with a roll-out of more controlled parking zones across the city, meaning residents paying for permits, in a bid to tackle commuter parking in certain streets.

Councillors have said the scheme, which has been criticised by business representatives, should be introduced as soon as possible to cut congestion and pollution in the city.

The levy would be similar to one introduced in Nottingham where businesses with 11 or more parking spaces are charged £375 for each space each year.

Keith Slater, chairman of the Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network, said he was 'fundamentally opposed' to it.

He added: "Businesses already pay for parking spaces as part of their business rates so they would be charged twice and that seems very unfair.

“Firms would either have to get employees to pay the charge themselves, or they could reduce salaries, or absorb the cost themselves.

“I don’t see that a levy would have a significant effect on reducing congestion because it might still cost more for park-and-ride than paying the levy."

Cabinet member for transport David Nimmo Smith could not give a firm date for when the levy might be introduced and said it needed to be bought in with the other transport schemes.

He said: "A workplace parking levy does not come by itself, it all ties in together.

"It is a work in progress at the moment.

"The local transport plan is a living, working document and is being regularly updated.

"We are looking at it to make sure what we end up with is right for the people of the city and the county."

But the Labour Party, led by Liz Brighouse, said the levy and roll-out of CPZs should happen as soon as possible.

Councillor for The Leys Steve Curran said: "If it raises money for us and reduces traffic coming into the city and reduces pollution we should be doing it now.

"I know it will cause problems with some people but there are already problems.

"It is a problem for children walking down polluted streets.

"We should not let parking by a major issue for our communities.

"We should think very much about CPZs and expanding CPZs."

Mr Curran said in Stratford Street in Iffley Fields 95 per cent of residents had asked the county council to look into creating a CPZ there.

Chris Terry, who lives in the street, is a spokesman for the Iffley Fields Parking Action Group.

The former architect who lives with wife Deborah said: “There are about 75 houses in the street and it’s very hard to get a parking space because there is no controlled parking zone.

“We would like to get a CPZ for the whole Iffley Fields area and plan to give the county council a petition with a few hundred names on.

“Shoppers, commuters, and students park in residents’ spaces and some residents have got tickets for parking on yellow lines.”

Mr Nimmo Smith said that he was speaking to residents in Iffley Fields about the creation of new CPZs.

County council spokesman Paul Smith said the authority had not identified any specific areas to roll out new CPZs at the moment but would continue to prioritise areas of the city where on-street parking spaces were under pressure.

The updated local transport plan will now be voted on by full council when it meets next month.

The local transport plan includes:

-Promoting a major upgrade to Oxford station

-Opening the Cowley railway line to passenger services, with new stations for the Oxford science and business parks

-An active and healthy travel strategy to encourage more walking and cycling to access public transport

-Improvements to the A40 and A420

-A new network of park and rides outside Oxford's ring road

-Rapid transit bus services for the busiest routes in the city