A COUNCILLOR who claims residents' parking spaces have been pinched by students and hospital workers has pleaded with the county council to apply a permit system.

But Councillor Mick Haines, who represents Marston on Oxford City Council, has been told by Oxfordshire County Council there is no money left to start one.

He has campaigned to improve parking for residents in his ward since he was first elected onto the city council in 2011.

Parking is so bad in the area that the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust advises patients and visitors to set aside an hour ahead of their trip to find a space at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Councillor Haines said residents struggle to regularly park anywhere near to their homes and that a permit scheme is required to prevent people taking up plum spots.

He said: “It’s chock-a-block with the parking. On the walkabout I have with residents it’s always brought up as an issue. It’s a big predicament here.

“I’m not happy with this at all because [Oxfordshire County Council] told Old Marston Parish Council to pay for it and Old Marston Parish Council wasn’t happy to pay for it."

He claimed in one instance that parking was so haphazard an ambulance could not park close to a patient’s home.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Martin Crabtree said: “We have written to Councillor Haines and explained that there is currently no funding available to set up new residents parking schemes. We will look again at the request if funding does become available.”

An Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said solutions are being sought to alleviate parking troubles at its hospital.

Kaelum Neville said: “The trust is aware that parking can be challenging for our patients and visitors, particularly at our hospitals in Headington.

“As part of the long-term master plan for our estate, we are exploring potential options to help reduce some of these pressures. However, we believe that there is no one-size-fits-all solution and a number of separate measures will be needed to help resolve this issue more fully.

“In the meantime, we continue to advise our patients of the limited number of car parking spaces we have available and encourage them to use alternative methods of transport, such as the park and ride services that run regularly to and from our hospitals.

"For those patients who have no other option but to drive, we strongly advise allowing at least one hour to find suitable parking prior to their appointment.”

And Oxford Brookes University spokeswoman Rachael Lee added: “Oxford Brookes maintains a strong commitment to sustainable travel, promoting and supporting students to use public transport or other forms of travel. We fund the BrookesBus service, which has routes across the city and runs to all our campuses and most students are able to use this for free.

"In addition we have a number of measures in place to encourage cycling.

“We continue to remind students to give due consideration in travelling to campus and if parking vehicles in the local area.”