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Council confirms next steps over changes to parking in South Oxfordshire

Released on August 18, 2020

Cabinet members at South Oxfordshire District Council have agreed to go ahead with a public consultation later this year on potential changes to parking in the district. 

The council will ask people to comment on a number of options which will form its new parking order and determine how it operates its car parks across the district.

Options that people will be able to have their say on include:

  • Standardising the charging hours across the district so that all areas are treated equally;
  • Introducing Sunday parking fees to help ensure spaces are available for people wishing to visit local shops and cafes;
  • A full review of how permits work to ensure they are allocated appropriately, depending on the size and location of the car park;
  • Offering discounted permits for users of electric vehicles;
  • Introducing limited waiting to address parking issues in the Chinnor.

People’s comments will be considered as part of a formal consultation process with statutory organisations such as the highways authority, police, town and parish councils.  The council will look at all comments before finalising and introducing the new arrangements in 2021.

Changes to parking prices

At their meeting on 6 August, Cabinet also agreed two additional changes aimed at ensuring that parking fees will continue to cover the costs of operating the car parks, including public toilets, over the long term:

  • prices in all charging car parks are to rise by 20p;
  • the all-day fee in Edinburgh Drive car park, Didcot and Wheel Orchard car park, Goring will increase from £3.40 to £5. This is similar to the rates in the neighbouring Network Rail car parks and so should help to free up more spaces in the town centre for shoppers.

These are the first price increases to be introduced in 13 years and reflect the annual increase in costs of running the car parks.  These measures can be introduced without consultation and will therefore be implemented in the coming months once a public notice period has concluded and new signage is ready. The council expects to have these revised charges in operation before 1 December 2020.  

Cllr David Rouane, Cabinet Member for Housing and Environment at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “At the Cabinet meeting we agreed to take forward these potential changes to our parking policy and we would urge people to have their say when the public consultation launches later this year. 

“Prices have not gone up in 13 years whilst our costs, which in some cases include the maintenance of free public toilets, have been rising steadily. We think that it is not unreasonable to introduce a small increase in order to pay for this service.

“It’s important that people are able to have their say on issues such as charging hours, the free hour in all car parks and Sunday charging, and measures that we are looking to introduce to reduce vehicle emissions through promoting the use of electric vehicles.

“Some of the measures we are looking to introduce, such as changes to charging hours and how we allocate permits, are at the request of local traders and are aimed at improving the availability of parking spaces for shoppers, bringing more people to our town centre shops and cafes.”