Purpose

Ensures the permits offered for the congestion
charge are appropriate and workable.

Content

Amendments to the
approved scheme
 
1.   
Clarification that emergency and health service vehicles, military
vehicles, highway and traffic works vehicles and statutory
undertakers’ vehicles are not chargeable, in line with other
local traffic orders
2.   
Amendment of central permit area workplace parking users
permit eligibility criteria to clarify that users of public car
parking not subject to a specific arrangement between the employer
and car park operator are ineligible
3.   
Amendment of central permit area sports clubs or military
training permit to include parents or carers with children
enrolled at a preschool or nursery in the central permit area
4.   
Amendment of the central permit area residents permit
eligibility criteria to include residents outside the central
permit area whose normal parking provision is unavailable and
alternative parking has been temporarily provided inside the
central permit area
5.   
Amendment of the Oxford permit area resident and
Oxfordshire permit area resident permits to clarify
a)   
that houses in multiple occupation will be treated as a single
address for the whole house, not one address per rented room
b)   
that university
students living in halls of residence and school students living in
accommodation provided by a school are not eligible for a
permit

Reasons for the decision

Using the same numbering as above:
 

These are standard exemptions in OCC traffic
orders, but were not explicitly referred
to in Annex 1 of the September 2025 cabinet report.  They are included here for
completeness.  The numbers are
low and the majority
of vehicles covered by these exemptions are not cars, so the
impact on the scheme’s outcomes would be
negligible.

 

The reference to “Central Permit Area
workplace parking” in Annex 1 of the September 2025 cabinet
report is not intended to include any form of public parking. For
the avoidance of doubt, officers recommend the following public car
parking is explicitly excluded from eligibility (unless an employer
has a specific arrangement with the car park owner for employees to
use the car park as workplace parking):

 
•             
All on-street
parking
•             
Westgate public car
park
•             
Oxpens public car park
•             
Worcester Street
public car park
•             
Oxford station long
stay car park
 

There are two nurseries in the Central Permit
Area.  Whilst most parents and carers do
not bring their children by car, nurseries are concerned that those
who do will need to pay the congestion charge, and this could
amount to a significant sum for those whose children attend nursery
most or all days of the week.  Those
attending nursery are no more able to
use public transport than workplace parking users, who are eligible
for a permit.  The numbers involved are
low (fewer than 50 families across both nurseries), and eligibility
can be proven straightforwardly with a letter from the nursery. The
impact on the scheme’s outcomes would be
negligible.

 

Residential on-street parking or other car parking
provision outside the central permit area may need to be suspended
from time to time to facilitate road or
building construction works.  If
residents’ alternative provision is within the central permit
area, they will need to be eligible for a permit.

 

(a) Houses in multiple occupation (like all residential addresses) are
eligible for a set maximum number of permits per
address.  This change clarifies that the
“address” refers to the whole house, not individual
rooms within the house.  This is
consistent with the approach taken to residents’ parking
permits.

 
(b) “Per address” permit
limits become unworkable for large
shared buildings, such as student halls of residence or
school boarding accommodation where several hundred residents may
share a single postal address.  Most
halls of residence are car-free.

Alternative options considered

Officers considered not making these changes
but consider they are appropriate, and are confident the changes
will not materially alter the scheme’s impacts given the
small numbers of vehicles involved.