In his comments on the possibility of a unitary council, Oxfordshire's Tory leader and his boss at Westminster are at one "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

The problem is that, for people in Oxfordshire, the two-tier system is very much broke.

We have one of the worst-funded youth services in the country, and youth facilities in Oxford are a disgrace.

Yet when the city council tries to make up the difference, the county just cuts even more from city services.

We have a county council granting free parking to commuters from outside the city, yet charging city residents to park outside their own homes.

And we have a county council determined to prevent new homes being built for families in Oxford, when it's plain for all to see that Oxford needs them.

As it happens, I don't put this down to party politics.

Spending on the youth service, for instance, has edged up, from dire to just pathetic, since the Tories gained overall control of the county council, compared with the Lib Dem/Tory alliance.

Tory district councillors have shown themselves more concerned about Oxford's homeless than Lib Dems like Jerry Patterson, leader of the Vale of White Horse District Council, who put himself down firmly on the side of the nimbies, and at odds even with the over-cautious city Lib Dems (Oxford Mail, July 20).

It is a result of broken institutional arrangements, meaning that the county council doesn't serve the city.

It is run by rural Oxfordshire, for rural Oxfordshire, and against the city. This situation desperately needs fixing.

Ed Turner (Councillor), Deputy Leader, Labour Group, Oxford City Council