SUPPORTERS of the Horton General Hospital have been left exasperated after it was announced no further parking will be added to Oxford's hospital sites.

Last week Oxford City Council planning boss Alex Hollingsworth said planning policies for the three sites in Headington blocked future development.

It comes after a survey by Banbury MP Victoria Prentis revealed waits by North Oxfordshire patients of up to an hour to find a space at the John Radcliffe.

Mr Hollingsworth said: "The council's planning policies for the hospital sites in Headington aim to limit the amount of parking on site.

"Additional parking will generate more traffic on local streets that are already congested.

"Major employers across Oxford have worked hard to provide alternative ways of getting their staff to work using public transport and the trust is no different."

Patients have for years routinely complained about long delays getting to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre as well as difficulty parking.

Oxfordshire County Council deputy leader Rodney Rose has been attending the JR for cancer treatment and lambasted the decision.

He said: "If they were talking about adding an eight-storey car park I could understand but to stop any spaces being added at all is just crackers."

Members of the Save Our Horton campaign group were flummoxed by the announcement.

Part of a sustainability and transformation plan (STP) for NHS services in the county includes proposals to centralise some services from the Horton to the JR.

Banbury campaigner Val Ingram said: "I'm not quite sure where this puts plans for the Horton. They said they needed to sort out parking to implement these measures.

"It's all a pack of nonsense really and I have a lot of sympathy for patients in Oxford. If people that lived here could go to hospital here, we would not have this problem."

In a post on the Save Our Horton Facebook page, group member Eleanor Wilson said: "So, they reduce services at the Horton, sending more traffic through to Oxford – then won't let us park in order to get to our appointments, so cause a backlog on the roads. Makes perfect sense."

Lisa Clark added: "All the more reason for our Horton to be saved and all its services too."

Advice issued by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust warns patients to leave up to an hour to find a parking space at the Headington sites.

The trust has stated it is working on a 'masterplan' to ease the problem and has encouraged people to use park and ride services where possible.