A proposal to build 25 car parking spaces outside Oxford ice rink and to establish a budget of over £500,000 will be put before the city council’s cabinet tomorrow.

The city council will look over a proposal tomorrow which seeks to secure future car parking for when the Oxpens car park is closed.

The report has been submitted by the head of community services and it recommends the council establishes a budget of £580,000 within the city council’s capital programme across 2024/2025 and 2025/2026.

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The Oxpens public car park is adjacent to the Oxford ice rink and is currently used by visitors to the ice rink.

However, the ice rink operator has no formal agreement with the city council to use the car park.

Onsite car parking at the ice rink is not needed until the Oxpens car park closes and this date has not yet been confirmed.

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Estimates from OxWed, a joint venture company owned by Nuffield College and Oxford City Council, have suggested that the car park could close as early as April 1 2025.

The company owns the majority of land that lies between Oxpens Road and the railway line.

The city council’s contact with the leisure centre operator Fusion runs out soon in March 2024 and the council has therefore started the process to procure a new operator from April 1, 2024.

An Oxford City Council spokesman said: "In ensuring that there was some parking provision at the site, consideration was given to the skate, ice hockey programmes and the users of the ice rink as it was recognised that for some users public transport or other city centre parking was likely to be a problem.

"The city council will aim to keep costs down and only spend where necessary, but this is a time of high inflation and volatile construction costs. The project therefore takes account of contingency and inflation allowances that are above present-day cost estimates."