Parking permits could cost more (From Oxford Mail)

Parking permits could cost more

9:00am Friday 22nd July 2011 in News By Ben Wilkinson

Rodney Rose

OXFORDSHIRE’S parking boss is threatening to hike the price of permits after the county council was exposed as making a profit out of the scheme.

The council made a profit of £110,442 from its Oxford residents’ parking permit scheme in the 2010-11 financial year, despite previous claims it would not.

And in total it made £1.13m profit from traffic – including parking charges and bus gate fines.

But Rodney Rose, county cabinet member for transport, insisted the council was making a loss because he claimed the cost of enforcing double yellow lines across the whole city should be included in calculations.

That meant a loss of £178,000 he claimed. He then threatened to charge the city’s 8,276 permit holders even more to cover the cost.

Mr Rose was accused of being spiteful after making the announcement just a week after the Oxford Mail and Oxford City Council launched a campaign to get permit holders a £10 rebate.

In a council cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said calls for a rebate had only served to highlight the loss the scheme was making.

And he threatened: “It may be that permit charges have to go up to cover the loss I am making.”

He said if he did hike charges, he would tell permit holders it was the councillors calling for a rebate who were responsible.

Oxfordshire County Council said it was making a £178,219 loss as it cost £290,000 to enforce double-yellow lines in the city.

But the Department for Transport says yellow lines should be put in and enforced as a matter of traffic safety and for flow of traffic.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Rose repeated that rather than get a £10 refund, residents could face an extra charge on their permits to cover the ‘loss’. That would be £21.53 each.

He said: “They are supposed to be self-funding but if people keep drawing attention to the fact that they are not, there might be pressure on me to do something about it.

“But I think we are charging an appropriate level so I don’t want to do that.”

Liberal Democrat John Goddard said: “To my mind it is a rather spiteful remark. If they are already paying too much then the right thing to do is repay the overcharging, not find reasons for charging even more.”

Lib Dem city member Alan Armitage said the council had been “misleading” people by claiming it had made a loss.

He said: “He is quite clearly out of order and if he really is threatening rises there will be an even bigger outcry.”

Permit-holder Bob Hughes, 64, of Boulter Street, St Clements, added: “It sounds like a very authoritarian, huffy response.”

The county council raised its basic permit charge to £50 from £40 in January.

Christine Hunt, of Islip Road, Summertown, said: “If there is another rise above £50, if they are making a profit, I certainly don’t think that is justified.”

TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign director Emma Boon said: “It would be completely unacceptable if the cabinet member for transport was insinuating the cost would go up because there had been complaints that the council was making money over it.”

Some 28 Oxford Mail readers have used the cut-out letter we printed last week to demand a refund from the county council.

Council spokesman Gemma Watts said: “Oxfordshire County Council makes a financial loss on residents’ parking zones. It is therefore not possible for there to be any kind of refund.”

Let Mr Rose know what you think. The council says you can write to him at 5 Wychwood Drive, Milton-under-Wychwood, OX7 6JA, email him at rodney.rose@oxfordshire.gov.uk or call him on 07919 298277