After a successful pilot run over Christmas, Oxford & Cherwell Valley College (OCVC) is to extend its cut-price weekend parking for city shoppers in 2012.
The scheme was launched in the run up to the festive period to boost a fund set up to support learning opportunities for OCVC students.
OCVC is making the 101 spaces in its Oxford City centre Oxpens car park available to weekend shoppers on Saturdays and Sundays in January and February, between 8am and 5pm. The £5 fee for any length of stay goes towards the college's Student Fund, which supports teaching and learning at the college in ways there wouldn’t be the money to do otherwise.
The initiative is also offering work opportunities to OCVC students, and a chance for them to put lessons learned in their studies to practical use. Students from the college’s public services programme - which teaches students the skills they need to join the ambulance service, fire brigade or police force, the armed forces, or the prison service when they complete their studies – are employed to work the gate.
OCVC director of business development Pete Reynolds said: “We had a great response to the pilots, raising more than £1,000 in revenue in the last full weekend before Christmas, and so are excited about the opportunity to extend the scheme into 2012.
"As well as making cut-price weekend parking available to city centre shoppers, we’re generating paid work opportunities for a number of our students, giving them a chance to put the skills they’re learning in stewarding and related programmes to the test, and making a huge difference for our Student Fund.”
So far, the initiative has raised more than £2,000 for the Student Fund, and the college said a a number of those using the car park had showed their support by making a bigger contribution than the fee they were asked for.
