Sir – Reg Little (Report, January 21) quotes city councillor Colin Cook saying in response to a survey that found Oxford to be a place of least disparity between rich and poor: “. . . . parts of the city — namely Barton, Blackbird Leys, Littlemore and Rose Hill — could be counted among the nation’s most deprived areas . . .” (my italics).

Whilst none of these places may represent the socialist paradise users of this tendentious term (in this context) may wish for, it is hard to believe that they are among the worst such places in Britain, though I have not seen the census, nor the data extrapolated from it, on which he based his comment.

I have lived in Littlemore for six years and walked and cycled round every bit of it, spoken to some of its residents, and do not recognize this description.

As in most places, some people struggle with poverty, but Littlemore appears to be mainly prosperous with diverse housing and a fairly broad social spectrum of people and is far from being the blighted landscape this term implies, with its connotations of poverty, social breakdown, crime and disorder. This matters because no one wishes to see their community in which they take a pride denigrated in this way.

And worse than that, it builds up a distorted impression of a place among those who do not live there which can be very hard to dispel.

Blackbird Leys residents, after their notable success with their community orchestra, might feel a real sense of frustration at these latest remarks.

Stella Brecknell (Ms), Littlemore