Oxford City Council housing portfolio holder Ed Turner points out that when tenants are made to pay for major damage to council properties they have vacated, it may be possible to get a court order for only £5 per week, taking 77 years to pay off £20,000 damage (Oxford Mail, March 1).

This surely highlights the urgent need for the council to be more proactive in being alert to the warning signs and taking action at an early stage?

Mr Turner correctly says "there is no way of telling which families might act as responsible tenants and which few might not", in advance of being allocated a property.

All too often, however, much-needed support is withdrawn from 'vulnerable' tenants, who may have alcohol, drugs and/or mental heath problems, leaving them entirely to their own devices.

Recently, I contacted the housing department to voice my concern about one such tenant. I was primarily concerned that this person was a danger to himself.

My requests for intervention were ignored and three weeks later, during a psychotic episode, the tenant flooded his flat, causing considerable damage to his property and two adjoining ones.

This could have been avoided if the care and supervision he needed was in place.

Housing services do a difficult job, but there seems to be an undue sense of fatalism from the council that all it can do is deal with the problems after they happen, leaving huge repair bills.

The Government's recent cuts to the Supporting People budget will only make things worse.

CLAIRE KENT (Councillor)

Independent Working

Class Association

Oxford City Council