COMMENT: Half-baked idea with  mean-minded justification

‘Why pick on us?’, they ask. We live here too, if only for three years, and we contribute to the local economy. Surely then, students have the same rights to drive and park a car as anyone else?

Ah, yes, say those on the opposite side of the fence, like Cllr Simon Bosher.

He says: ‘The time has come for us to say we need to do something because the residents are the ones who pay council tax, not the students.’

The aim of reducing  car use, and therefore traffic congestion in our choked city is laudable. It will have benefits both for the local economy and for the health of the population, but this student ban seems like a half-baked idea at best, and that particular justification feels mean-minded.

It would apply only to those students living in university-owned and private student halls that are located within residents’ parking zones, not those living in private accommodation.

And those in the university’s halls are already discouraged from bringing a vehicle to the city but rather encouraged to use public transport or to cycle.

And maybe that is the key. This ban on one section of the student population would foster resentment and displace parked cars from residents’ zones to uncontrolled streets.

If the ban is to be brought in it should apply equally to all students, and an education campaign is needed to encourage cleaner transport, such as the two-wheeled variety so beloved of students among the dreaming spires of Oxford.

Every driver who takes to a bike, or decides to walk or catch a bus, means one less car on the road, which can only be a good thing.