Over the last few months I have received many emails from constituents across the constituency complaining about people parking in their streets illegally.

This has been exacerbated further in Didcot in particular by a lack of parking around Didcot Parkway while the new multi storey car park is being built.

Residents consistently raise parking issues with Thames Valley Police to say that lack of enforcement is affecting their quality of life.

Beyond blocking streets and leaving local residents unable to park, parking illegally can mean that bin lorries cannot complete their rounds and emergency service vehicles cannot get to their destination on time.

This problem is getting worse due to a lack of parking in some areas.

Around the station in Didcot, I am hopefully that the new multi storey will go some way to alleviate this problem when it opens at the end of the summer.

Last month I met with the Local Police Area Commander, Superintendent Rory Freeman, for an update on local issues and discussed this matter with him.

Parking enforcement in our area currently lies with the police, which means they have responsibility for patrolling and issuing tickets to those parking illegally.

As you can imagine this could take up a considerable amount of time for the police, and I suspect many of us would rather they spent their time dealing with serious crimes such as theft and burglary.

The police have a wide range of responsibilities to deal with.

Within that list of responsibilities parking enforcement is, quite understandably, not the top priority.

In many other areas of the country, responsibility for parking lies with the local council, and this should be the case in Oxfordshire.

A majority of local authorities across the country manage parking enforcement successfully and it has the ability to bring in considerable extra revenue.

Oxford City Council already have responsibility for parking and it should be the case in the Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire.

I will be pushing the local authority to accept responsibility for parking enforcement in the future, and free up the police to deal with more serious issues.