Sir – You reported last week of yet more confusion over the county’s parking policy and now, it seems, the pavements are regarded as suitable extensions to street parking.

In North Summertown we have seen the artificial restriction of street parking by use of double yellow lines simply to separate one class of parking from another.

In streets where residents have no other option than to park in the street, this is leading to residents paving over their front gardens and using them as parking spaces.

The practice not only removes growing material, a valuable carbon absorber, but leads to increased storm runoff and, with many cars being longer than a small front garden, puts further obstructions across our pavements. These are new problems caused by uninformed meddling with our road space by officers who, at best, view us though Google binoculars.

For them, it’s an interesting project of extracting extra taxes so that the leader of the county council can argue he is reducing our overall council tax.

The coming election is an opportunity to show our prospective county councillors that it’s time to review their controlled parking policy or suffer a reduced vote. I have asked prospective councillors in my area for a policy statement of their intention toward our CPZ and can report only one definite answer.

The Conservative candidate follows the party line and wants to see the CPZ extended beyond the ring road. The Liberal Democrats vacillate, the Greens view any restriction on car use as good for carbon reduction and the Labour Party say they might possibly oppose CPZ. In a recent survey, over 75 per cent of residents in Islip, Harpes and Water Eaton roads were against the CPZ, but I’m afraid this election gives us a poor choice for change.

Richard Hunt Oxford