Take students off our roads

From the Oxford Mail, first published Friday 1st Aug 2008.

Residents fed up with living in streets choked with cars have called for university students to be banned from bringing their vehicles into Oxford.

An alliance of residents' groups has challenged Oxford Brookes University to show its green credentials by imposing "a blanket ban" on student drivers.

They claimed chronic road congestion in East Oxford was being made worse by Brookes students.

And they set out their own vision to clear clogged-up roads in a strongly worded letter to the university.

Residents urged Brookes to follow the 'no car' policies of Cambridge University, where motor proctors have powers to impose fines of up to £175 on students breaching regulations on keeping cars.

They also want Brookes to work with Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority, to end students' automatic entitlement to parking permits.

But last night, the university dismissed the idea which it claimed would make students "lesser citizens with fewer rights".

The letter said: "If Brookes really is committed to combating climate change by enforcing a sustainable travel plan, surely the policy ought to have at its heart a blanket ban on all students bringing cars, save those with a genuine need."

Professor Floris Van Den Broecke, of Southfield Road, said: "The situation during term time is that streets are overcrowded with parked cars and you cannot find a space for your car near to your home.

"Brookes should do something positive like allowing students to park for free at park-and-rides and busing them in.

"The cars parked around here belong to students who drive in, and who are being pushed out of Headington due to controlled-parking zones."

But Hannah Revell, a 24-year-old student from Abingdon who travels to Brookes once a week, said: "I avoid driving at all costs because there's so much traffic and nowhere to park.

"With a bus service that stops just outside, there is no need for me to drive.

"The university certainly doesn't promote driving, and tells everyone about the other options like the park-and-ride services."

James Styring, chairman of the cycling pressure group Cylox and a member of Divinity Road Residents' Association, said: "The inconvenience of students not having cars for a few terms is mild compared to the lifelong inconvenience residents are having to face."

Rex Knight, deputy vice-chancellor and registrar of Brookes, said: "Even if this were something which could be effectively enforced, we would strongly reject the implicit assumption in this call, which is students living in the community are somehow lesser citizens with fewer rights than other residents."

A spokesperson for the University of Oxford said it was satisfied "the great majority" of its students walked or cycled in Oxford.

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