CONVINCING the public and businesses to support a workplace parking levy in Oxford will be an uphill struggle, it has been warned.

The controversial measure is being considered, as well as a congestion charge, by Oxfordshire County Council.

It would charge businesses an annual fee for each parking space they own, with the authority saying it could rake in millions to pay for public transport improvements.

But councillor Nigel Chapman, of Oxford City Council, said it would be ‘difficult politically, and in every other sense’ to introduce it.

Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the city council scrutiny committee, he added: “There would have to be a really significant improvement in public transport in the city to convince people that it was a good idea.”

Mr Chapman pointed to Nottingham, where cash raised from a workplace parking levy has helped to pay for new tram lines and a railway station redevelopment scheme.

But he added: “I think that kind of thing is going to be very hard to deliver here.”

His comments came as county council officers also told the meeting that detailed studies of how such a charge could be introduced in Oxford were not likely to start until April, reporting back in October.

One told the scrutiny committee that they had also not ruled out a congestion charge, but added: “Initial work suggested Oxford would not gain the same benefits from a congestion charge as from a levy.”