What is the point of holding consultation if a decision has already been taken?

Oxford residents facing the prospect of paying to park outside their homes will no doubt be asking that question.

Although a vote has apparently yet to be taken by the county council, workmen are already putting up the signs and marking the bays in some parts of the city.

The county council's argument is that the issue is not whether the city suburbs will get residents' parking. The only debate is over whether residents will be charged for this doubtful privilege.

But many of the people who have responded to the council questionnaire and opposed the scheme, will disagree.

They thought they were being asked whether residents' parking was a good idea.

Clearly, for some of them, it is not. As one reader pointed out last week, parking arrangements in Cutteslowe and Summertown one of the designated areas are working perfectly well without council meddling.

The county council has not come out of this affair very well.

For a start, many of the questions were loaded giving residents no opportunity to object to the principle of residents' parking.

Now the council has started work on the ground before the go-ahead has been given.

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the consultation was a waste of time and money, and that the council has ridden roughshod over residents.