Having read councillor John Tanner’s letter about the reaction of residents at the November East Area Parliament to the county council’s’s Controlled Parking Zone proposals, I wonder if he was actually at the same meeting that I was chairing.

Yes the debate was healthy and robust but, apart from an isolated and embarrassing outburst by one anti-CPZ campaigner, the meeting was good natured and informative.

County councillor Ian Hudspeth and officer Joy White kindly accepted the invitation of the East Area Parliament to attend and listen to members of the public – most of whom had genuine concerns or questions that they wanted answered to help inform their consultation responses.

At the end of two hours of Q&A I took two straw polls to get the views of those in the room. Far from the “majority being against the proposals” – as Mr Tanner claimed, the picture was more mixed.

In the first vote on the Divinity Road CPZ area, about half were in favour with the rest split roughly evenly between those opposing the scheme and those willing to accept it with minor changes.

In the second vote on the Magdalen Road CPZ, residents were split roughly three ways; supporting, supporting with minor amendments and opposing.

Mr Tanner even admitted at the meeting to having a difference of opinion with his Labour colleague, Mr Malik, who spoke in support of the Magdalen Road CPZ with removal of Magdalen and Stanley Roads (the former already has controlled parking and the latter is a small road with a lot of off-street parking already – so this change would be minor).

Of course, such votes are hardly scientific. Many people had left before the poll was taken, and, of course, those attending were a self-selecting group.

More important, in my view, was the opportunity provided by the EAP for residents to get straight answers from the county council.

Craig Simmons, Oxford City Councillor, Magdalen Road, Oxford