THE county council’s parking plans for East Oxford will make a difficult situation even worse.

It is vital that local residents respond by July 9 to the the ill-thought out plans for residents parking.

The Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) for the Magdalen Road area will make it even more difficult for local car owners to find a parking space.

Parking on pavements will be officially sanctioned. Residents, including those without cars, will be allowed one car-borne visitor a week.

Key areas, such as Ridgefield Road, Meadow Lane and Addison Crescent, are not included, and will suffer parking mayhem.

For this traffic chaos, residents with a car will have to pay an extra £55 a year, as if the council tax was not high enough.

Of course there has to be parking restraint in East Oxford. But this scheme has largely ignored the concerns and local knowledge of residents.

Most local people already walk, cycle and use buses instead of driving and the help for the new ‘car club’ is very welcome.

But if the county council can’t come up with some radical improvements to their proposed CPZ, we should fight these plans tooth and nail.

Once again rural Tories are imposing their will on long-suffering Oxford residents.

Cllr JOHN TANNER, Town Hall, Oxford