A NEW blow has been dealt to plans to charge for residents' parking permits after Oxford City Council said it would refuse to collect any charges on behalf of County Hall.

The city council warned it was not prepared to do the county council's "dirty work" by collecting unpopular charges from resentful homeowners, furious at being charged for parking in their own street.

With a public consultation expected to show more than three-quarters of residents to be against the controversial scheme, the city council parking permit revolt will add to pressure on the county council to abide by the judgement of residents.

The city council has been responsible for distributing residents' parking permits on behalf of County Hall since parking zones were introduced nine years ago.

But the ruling Lib Dem group says the city will not have anything to do with proposals to charge thousands of homeowners to park outside their homes.

The city council runs a parking and payment shop on behalf of the county council at 140 High Street, close to Carfax. The city boycott would certainly add to the cost of introducing the scheme.

Stephen Tall, the Lib Dem spokesman for better finances, said: "The city council will refuse to collect residents' parking zone charges for the county council should its Tory cabinet decide to force its unfair stealth tax on Oxford residents in the teeth of local opposition.

"The Conservative county councillors have made a right royal mess of the whole issue. First they cooked up a flawed and biased consultation questionnaire, blatantly designed to skew the answers to get the result they wanted.

"Now they seem quite willing to over-rule the consultation if it doesn't go their way.

"From what I'm hearing, it would be absolutely staggering if this consultation does not show large-scale discontent with charging.

"If it comes to the county trying to ride roughshod over the opposition of Oxford residents then we will refuse to do their dirty work for them. Residents' parking zones are an integral part of both the city and county councils' balanced transport policy, which aims to cut traffic congestion and pollution. Everyone who lives, works or visits benefits. So it is only fair we all bear our fair share of the costs."

Almost one in five or 5,000 of the 26,000 people who were sent questionnaires earlier this year responded to Oxfordshire County Council before last Thursday's deadline.

The county is proposing to make residents pay £40 a year for each of the first two permits issued in most residents' parking zones. A three-car family could find itself with a £160 bill. Detailed results are expected in September.

The county council's head of transport, Steve Howell, yesterday appeared undaunted by the threat of a city boycott.

He said: "We are already considering the possibility of the responsibility of the parking shop being taken on by the county council.

"Charges for residents' parking permits are administered smoothly in major towns and cities throughout the country. But no decision has been taken on this issue. Consultation results are currently being analysed."

David Robertson, cabinet member for transport, said: "Most people want the zones. The issue is about charging.

"The county council's policy was developed before there was any overall control.

"I have always said that if you were to ask people a straightforward question, like 'Do you want to pay for something that is currently free', then people would say 'No'."

County Hall has claimed charging for permits would bring Oxford into line with other towns and cities. If each home affected requires just one permit, that would guarantee County Hall an annual income of more than £1m.

Meanwhile, County Hall has climbed down over plans to charge rush-hour drivers in Oxford £4 an hour for parking.

Mr Robertson, who chairs the county's transport implementation committee, conceded that a steep increase in charges would make little difference to traffic congestion. Now, most on-street spaces will increase by 50p an hour from October 1.