Frustrated householders in Abingdon say they are considering moving after shelling out money for parking each month despite having a permit.

Primary school teacher Sarah Smith and her husband Stephen paid £120 for a yearly parking permit which allows them to park outside their house in East St Helens, after moving into the property in February.

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The couple are having to spend an extra £15 on parking each month – on top of the permit - because half the spaces in the street are pay and display and taken up, and the nearby West St Helens car park is not included in the permit.

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Mrs Smith, from Abingdon, said: “We’ve seriously considered whether it’s worth us staying. We rent, and we’d get more for our money’s worth in a different area.

“Our lease ends in February next year and we are weighing up whether it’s worth staying here.”

Mrs Smith, who has a broken foot, claimed the parking situation has been especially difficult to manage given her injury.

She said: “I can’t drive our car with my foot the way it is. I became really conscious where we could park given my limited mobility.

“We can’t park near the flat, so it’s a struggle. We’ve also gone down to one car because of this issue, we had two but with the cost of the permit and the difficulty finding spaces, it seemed pointless.

“We knew parking would be a slight issue here, but it’s a heck of a lot worse than we thought it would be. We’ve driven around town up to five times before in the hope of finding a parking spot.

“I just wish something would change. Householders’ parking permits should include the multi-storey car park, otherwise people will just leave here.”

Mr and Mrs Smith’s neighbour, who wished to stay anonymous, agreed with the couple that parking has been a major issue.

She said: “Myself and my partner have lived here just over a year and have two cars between us. There are never any parking spaces available.

“We keep getting parking tickets, but there’s nowhere for us to park. It’s costing us more money to park elsewhere which is causing a problem for us.”

In response to the householders’ frustrations, a spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council said: “A permit allows residents to park in any resident permit holder bay throughout the entirety of the controlled parking zone and not just in the street in which they reside. “Therefore, they should be accommodated in nearby streets within the zone that surrounds them.

“Furthermore, their resident permit allows them to park for an unlimited time in on-street pay & display areas. This, however, does not extend to car parks owned by the Vale of White Horse District Council.

“It is not possible to allocate specific parking spaces to individual permit holders, nor can it be guaranteed that there will be space adjacent to individuals’ houses, although sufficient space should be available within the parking zone.”

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1