Sir – Not only is the refusal of the city council to reopen St Giles toilets on the grounds of health and safety ludicrous, as Clive Hallett points out (Letters, September 22), it does not even have the benefits claimed.

The building so obviously proclaims itself for what it is that many people will have crossed the road before they discover it is closed. They will then have to cross other adjoining busy roads in search of toilets that are open.

The communal toilets scheme cannot compensate for the public toilets which have closed. They were already known to regular visitors to Oxford and are difficult for tourists to locate.

One cannot help wondering how all those crocodiles of tourists manage. The provision of public toilets in a tourist centre ought to match its popularity. Oxford has organisations to cater for cyclists and pedestrians: perhaps it ought also to have one for the users of public toilets, especially as it has policy of aiming for a ‘cleaner, greener City’.

Robert Sephton, Abingdon