We have never been a fan of Oxford City Council's area committees. Their judgements on planning applications have proved costly to the taxpayer and their necessarily parochial outlook can deflect the council from its strategic vision.

This week, the east area committee - we refuse to call it a parliament - once again considered the idea of restoring water to the Plain drinking fountain.

The fountain is a listed building and we can just about run with the idea that the building itself should be restored in some way. Adding running water is plain daft. Council officers say it would be complicated and costly to do it.

Who in their right minds would want to cross the Plain to get a drink anyway? Even the cyclists roar around the roundabout. Few pedestrians would contemplate a trip across to admire the fountain or drink from it.

There are far more pressing needs in the Oxford street scene. What about some dramatic fountains in the centre of Oxford. Every great city in Europe has its public fountains and public squares. What has Oxford got? Very little is the answer. We have had a very expensive and underwhelming revamp of Cornmarket Street.

True, there is a plan to revamp Bonn Square, but vast areas of the city centre either remain unfriendly and unattractive to pedestrians - Queen Street, for example - or simply do not live up to their status - Broad Street.

It is all very well trying to spruce up gateways to the city like the Plain Fountain but it is akin to painting the front door when the house inside is a tip.

We have been hearing about visions for Broad Street and Queen Street for years. It is about time some of those visions were turned into action.

Many good things are happening in Oxford. The West End of the city could be transformed over the next decade or so. The danger is that the city centre will be left behind.