Sir — Everyone, or almost everyone, in Oxford is delighted that at long last there will be a John Lewis store in the Westgate centre. On the financial front, there is a bit of a puzzle.

The Labour administration have set aside £3.3m or so for ‘temporary car parking’ during the building work. By a happy coincidence, this sum is pretty well exactly the £3.3m underspend from last year, made up of the £1.24m left over from running the city and unused ‘contingencies’. With a total budget of £24.1m, to underspend by £3.3m does raise questions about the budgeting process.

Despite repeated questions, no one has so far been able to tell me how this sum of £3.3m for Westgate was arrived at. What exactly is it for? Is it just a coincidence that it so nearly matches the underspend from last year plus unused contingencies?

It is high time that the Westgate centre was redeveloped to provide a much better shopping experience, more leisure facilities, a much better car park and much improved east-west links across the site. But council tax-paying citizens should know just how it is being financed and whether money is being spent which should be spent elsewhere, perhaps in providing more money advice to people facing the new welfare rules and reductions.

The council says that there will be a report on the Westgate temporary car parking on an unspecified date in July. No sign of it yet — we need to know much more before signing it off.

There are clearly some big problems still to be resolved; such as just how do we keep the buses running needed to bring people into the city without clogging up that very city centre?

Jean Fooks, Leader, Liberal Democrat opposition group, Oxford City Council