RESIDENTS who say they are trapped in their homes by commuter parking in Oxford are “banging their heads against a brick wall”.

Residents of the Peat Moors estate have renewed calls for permit parking in the area to control problems with roads, pavements and entrances being blocked.

But they have been told Oxfordshire County Council has no money to put such a scheme in the area.

Richard Bryant, who lives in Bulan Road and is secretary of the Bullingdon Community Association in Peat Moors, said: “You can see the congestion at the top of Peat Moors near the bus stop then it spreads right down to where it intersects with Bulan Road.

“A lot of it seems to be due to people parking there and going off to work elsewhere in the city or at the hospitals.

“On occasions it is really difficult to get bigger vans or a minibus bringing some of the senior residents to a club on a Thursday morning because there are cars parked on both sides of the road.”

He said he has repeatedly raised the issue with city and county councillors, and has walked around the area with county highways officers.

He said: “The message coming across was that there was little if any chance of any improvement. I think at the moment we are banging our heads against a brick wall.”

As well as the inconvenience for residents, he said there was a real safety worry.

He said: “We are frustrated and concerned there could be a more serious problem if emergency vehicles couldn’t get down there. I would support a permit parking zone.”

Bob Timbs, who represents Lye Valley on Oxford City Council, said it was an ongoing problem that had been raised with county highways officers, who are due to report back on it at the next Cowley Area Forum.

He said: “Residents have said they’re quite happy to pay for parking permits to stop all these people parking in their road but it seems Oxfordshire County Council won’t do anything about it.”

He said PCSOs regularly patrolled the area and ticketed cars causing obstructions, but they could do nothing about those parked legally.

Mr Timbs said: “They are trapped in their own homes and they are frustrated because it seems nothing can be done. I think the only way to solve it is to have residents’ parking permits.”

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Owen Morton said: “The council does not currently have funding to develop a Controlled Parking Zone scheme or other parking restrictions in Peat Moors.”