Sir – So, “County Hall says it is ready to invest £2.75m of its own money in ring road improvements” (Report, January 27).

Excuse me, whose money? That is our money and is the same money that is usually called taxpayers’ money when it’s necessary to find a way to appeal to us over cuts. (It may of course be your words, not County Hall’s, but in either case I’m unhappy at it being called their money.) When Keith Mitchell asks us where we would find cuts if we want to save the libraries, we are not likely to have a view of all the items in the budget so as to be able to find a good answer, but every now and again we get a glimpse of the reality in the council — they can find some of ‘their’ money to spend on major work on roads, for example.

So obviously there is some spare cash slopping around in the budgets, coincidentally in this case just about enough to save the libraries.

So listen to us and if there is some cash that you consider ‘yours’ to allocate still, you know where we’d like it used, and it’s not necessarily where you’ve made your mind up. Don’t waste ‘our’ money on scrapping a salvageable swimming pool in Cowley for a more expensive new one at a time when money is short, and don’t strip our society of the asset of our libraries.

Listen to us — it’s our money you are spending.

And please be big enough to change your minds and don’t be petty and dig in defensively.

You are taking our money from us and we should be able to have faith in the way you are spending it for us. Now whose money is it again?

Maurice Herson, Risinghurst