Charges for parking for more than an hour in Jericho are set to treble – even after councillors applied a reduction. 

The county council had proposed to bring charges in the area in line with city centre charges, which are also set to go up from April, as it tries to cut by a quarter the volume of car journeys in Oxford and promote public transport and active travel options. 

The real hike in Jericho comes from the scale at which charges go up for motorists staying beyond an hour. 

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In the city centre, car parking managed by the county council costs £5.70 for up to an hour and £8.90 for up to two hours, fees that will go up to £6 and £12 from April. 

In Jericho, it currently costs £3.90 for up to an hour but visitors can park for up to three hours for £5. 

The county wanted that to become £6 and £18 respectively, a 260 per cent rise for up to three hours. 

In an address to the county’s cabinet, Bernadette Evans argued that Jericho views itself “like a village or a small market town” and that “parking charges should reflect” that it is distinct from the city centre.

“Other similar areas with retail offer such as Summertown and St Clement’s have a mixture of free on-street parking and designated cheaper car parks,” she said. 

“The parking increase would put Jericho at a very unfair disadvantage. We need support and certainty from our council and at the moment it does not feel like we have that. 

“We know the council wants to reduce the number of cars coming into Oxford but there would be economic consequences if this goes ahead.

“There is an option of coming by park and ride but people are time poor and the reality is most just won’t bother. Customers do what is easiest and that is just the way it is. 

“I am going to suggest we all take a breath on this decision, it is so serious and it needs chatting through.

“A solution would be to rejig the parking zones somehow so that Jericho is in line with similar areas like Summertown and not classified as being central Oxford which we most definitely are not.”

An amendment, reducing the charges to £5 for up to an hour and £15 for up to three hours, was passed by cabinet members with Councillor Liz Leffman (Lib Dem, Charlbury & Wychwood), leader of the county, vowing to liaise with Oxford City Council on the matter.

“I hope that goes some way to alleviating the concerns that have been expressed,” she said.

“I know that it is not going to make a massive amount of difference but I think it is something that we have to look at in the round.

“There are all sorts of issues around the parking charges we see across the city. We are not in control of all of those charges so I propose to take this back to our colleagues in the city (council) and have conversations about how we take this forward.”

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