Sir – Mr Mitchell has a difficult task imposing cuts, it is not possible to please everyone. He has asked upset library users what other social service we would cut instead. But he knows we don’t have the detailed budget knowledge necessary to make informed proposals. So if he really wants our recommendations, will he set up a meeting with protestors to go through and explain the budget in detail?

Meantime, here are some specific suggestions. Mr Cameron has stated his regret that councils are cutting services rather than bureaucracy, and the Local Government Minister has said councils should make savings elsewhere, such as clamping down on senior pay. So here are two possibilities: will Mr Mitchell consider them? A third suggestion. The budget includes £6m set aside “to develop the business case for Access to Oxford”. Access to Oxford is a scheme for traffic flow improvements on the A34, etc, that was agreed in 2007. ‘Developing the business case’ means publishing glossy brochures in favour of this scheme.

At the present time, almost certainly a waste of money. But if libraries are closed we lose, for a long time or for good, irreplaceable expertise and facilities built up over the years and providing some of the community cohesion the Big Society is supposed to be about. So please, Mr Mitchell, take £2m out of this fund and use it to save the libraries.

Fourth, park-and-ride is free. This is a subsidy for motorists who use these car parks, paid for by the rest of us, out of our council tax. Why? This is a social service for drivers who are not especially needy or vulnerable. Please Mr Mitchell, if a social service must be cut, cut this one and save our libraries.

Michel Treisman, Oxford