I live in Headington, I used to live in Blackbird Leys and like Ross Clark (Oxford Mail, August 7), I'm involved in East Oxford Community Centre.

He's right to point out that Val Smith (and most other Labour councillors) are "out of touch... with the community". Closing the community centre (bar) would only make things worse. Ross is too generous -- "seven years of Labour in government" has made things worse for most people in the country, not just "the young of Blackbird Leys."

Most people who voted for the reactionary IWCA Party did so to get rid of Labour. One of the other factors in Churchill Ward was "Respect" not standing apparently because they are more interested in mosques than council estates. My problem with the IWCA is not what they say and do but unlike "Respect" they appear to have nothing positive to offer.

Outing drug dealers (and other examples of so-called anti-social behaviour) is OK but without addressing the conditions that allow drug dealing to flourish they're just pushing the problem somewhere else. If Councillor Stuart Craft wants to abandon "multiculturalism" does that mean we'd lose the Cowley Road Carnival? Does anybody really know what the IWCA stand for?

Community centres should be at the heart of the community run by the community for the whole of the community. That's hard enough in a multicultural society but repeated attacks from central government and out of touch councillors will only destroy more communities. ANDY GIBBONS, Weyland Road, Oxford