Pilot success drives extension to Colleges cut price weekend parking in Oxford
12 January 2012
After a successful pilot, Oxford & Cherwell Valley College (OCVC) is extending its weekend cut-price parking for city shoppers into 2012.
The enterprising initiative was launched in the run up to Christmas 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 helps boost OCVC’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 much-needed 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 gives them 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, says: “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 OCVC Student Fund with a number of those using the car park showing their support by making a bigger contribution than the fee they were asked for.