I note with some exasperation that the Tory MP for Oxford West and Abingdon has started a campaign to get customers to praise the local shops on the West Way site in Botley.

Her leaflet urges us to “use and cherish the Botley shops or lose them forever”. While the many varied businesses there are indeed great and provide very good service, Ms Blackwood’s efforts would be better spent urging her Conservative colleagues on the Vale of White Horse Council not to support the Doric application to redevelop the site. Their plans will certainly lead to these excellent shops being lost forever.

I think she has focused upon the wrong target.

Alison Elizabeth Jenner, Norreys Road, Cumnor

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone's contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.

Today’s letters