I WISH to register my protest in the strongest terms about the proposed parking charges at the Godstow Road car park, Wolvercote.
I object to the scheme, wearing, as it were, three hats.
The first is as a normal motorist, who likes to take his 96-year-old mother for her weekly ride to watch the animals on the Meadow and the antics of the wildfowl in the Bathing Place. Should we have to pay to view nature?
Secondly, I am secretary of North Oxford Angling Society. We rent water from the Trout Inn and further upstream above Kings Lock, from Oxford University. The only parking available is in the car park under discussion. Our society spends around £2,000 per annum for the right to fish. Are members now expected to fork out an extra £10 every time they participate in our activities?
Thirdly, I am competition organiser for the Oxford Model Flying Club. Every year we have permission to organise two events on Port Meadow.
I have run one in June continuously for 30 years. This has been very successful and attracts competitors from all over England, and France and Denmark at times.
Imagine how a prospective participant might feel, having journeyed all the way from, say, Yorkshire, to find that he or she has to pay £10 before getting as far as the flying area.
I feel that the proposals are penny-pinching and would be counter-productive. Casual Port Meadow users will simply park their cars on streets in Wolvercote village.
Then, I suppose the double yellow lines will come!
ANDREW J CRISP, Grove Street, Summertown, Oxford
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