OXFORDshire bureaucrats might as well come clean and put a big sign at the entrance to our glorious city stating: “Cars not welcome here”.

County council officers’ aspiration to have all on street parking spaces subject to some form of regulation is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

The city is already well served by 23 controlled parking zones run by Oxfordshire County Council, which is responsible for city transport planning.

There is a case for more zones in congested areas and these should be fully considered but on a case-by-case basis, not with a blanket policy.

Many streets just do not experience the level of demand that require permits or waiting restrictions.

Homeowners will not welcome a bill demanding payment for a permit or having to regularly move their car to meet new regulations.

And at a time of austerity, the work needed to implement and then monitor them would place unnecessary burdens on over-worked council staff.

We reported recently that some residents in existing zones are unhappy with the level of traffic warden enforcement.

Most city streets got ten penalty tickets or less from January to August – how many more wardens would we need to enforce a city-wide zone?

The answer is, of course, we can’t afford more wardens or CPZ zones and the scheme, for now, is a non-starter.