Sir – Last week, Oxford City Council’s (OCC’s) City Executive Board (CEB) agreed to progress proposals to introduce parking charges in Cutteslowe Park.

The report written for the CEB states “The introduction of charging may displace parking into the residential streets”.

As there are no parking restrictions on roads in this area it is inevitable that park users will choose to park on the many streets adjacent to the park rather than paying to use the car park.

This will mean a no-win situation because the council will not get the revenue that it expects and the residential side streets will be packed with cars causing inconvenience and disruption to locals.

The “Policy Framework” of the report suggests that the decision to charge for parking will “Improve the local environment and quality of life”.

It is not clear to whom this will apply but it certainly won’t be the residents or the people who will now have to pay to use the park. The report also states that the decision will “Transform the council by improving value for money and service performance”.

As the net revenue from Cutteslowe Park is forecast at about £34,000 pa I suggest that it is unlikely to “transform” Oxford City Council in any way at all.

If the council was interested in consultation it could have asked the Friends — the park user group set up at the request of the council. Unsurprisingly, the Friends were not consulted and yet again found out about significant proposals for Cutteslowe Park in the local press.

The decision has now been referred to a scrutiny committee but a cynic might suggest that work on the car park, both already carried out and currently in progress, would suggest that the city council has already determined the outcome of this particular project!

Suzanne McIvor, Oxford