Sir - Let's get this right. Auditors tell the city council that it gives us much worse value for money than most other councils: in reply the finance director, Mark Luntley, makes the extraordinary admission for one in his profession that: "We will never be able to explain precisely why one service costs more than another down the road." (Report, November 10).
The same council is spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on a bid for unitary status, with a requirement that it demonstrates just how costs estimated at £17m will be offset by re-organising all the other local authorities in Oxfordshire (ie down the road') to make them give better value for money than they do now - which is much better than Oxford (Report, November 24). Well, at least we now have a pretty good clue why the city council provides such poor value.
Julian Le Vay, Oxford
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