Sir – One of the issues that the proposed library closures has brought to light is the disenfranchisement of Oxford city.
Oxford city councillors are powerless to do anything about the proposed closure of libraries and youth centres in the city because these are under the control of Oxfordshire county councillors.
Oxfordshire has a population of roughly 600,000 and Oxford city of roughly 145,000, ie roughly one quarter. Oxford city county councillors are Labour or Lib Dem, most of the county councillors are Conservative.
The county council now makes an initial decision through an eight-person cabinet which then has to be passed by full county council.
However, Oxford city county councillors are outnumbered by the county councillors, so they have no hope of amending the suggestions/decisions of the cabinet. All the members of the cabinet are Conservatives from the county, there is one Conservative councillor Arash Fatemian, who represents Kennington and Radley. Oxford city is thus disenfranchised.
One quarter of the population is unrepresented in the cabinet democratically and nor are they represented demographically.
I was recently told that the county councillors are unaware of the time and cost of moving round Oxford, ie to get on a bus from Summertown or Headington to go to the city centre library would take hours and cost about £5 return. The library cabinet councillor Judy Heathcoat lives in Faringdon. It’s not just a question of fighting the proposed library closures, in the long term we need a fairer system. The present set-up is simply not working for Oxford city.
Rosanne Bostock, Oxford
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