I am sure some people will find it sad that Oxford will not be entering the Britain in Bloom competition this year, but I, for one, won't!

I have always thought it was a luxury that we cannot afford, and that there are other more important priorities that our money should be spent on.

I do think the baskets are pretty, but the roundabout arrangements have never been to my taste.

They always look too regimented and are often hidden by the sign announcing who is sponsoring them.

As for the parks, why not grow perennial plants instead of border plants?

They do not need replanting every year, they multiply and increase in size and they do not need so much watering as border plants.

Why not use more flowering shrubs? Roses can stand even the hottest weather without frequent watering.

I do not think it will stop tourists coming.

After all, they do not know the flowers are here when they make plans to visit.

They come to see the colleges, the castle, the cathedral and all the other things that represent Oxford's history.

However, I wish the tourist organisations would realise that visitors do not spend all their time in the city centre.

Many of them stay in bed and breakfasts in East Oxford, where they see our dirty streets full of litter from the takeaways.

They also see wheelie bins or full recycling boxes put out on the wrong days and left on the pavement until the correct collection day comes around, unkempt front gardens full of rubbish, and nettles and other weeds of the multi-occupied houses, which landlords aren't made to keep tidy.

I am ashamed to have relatives come here, let alone worry about the tourist trade.

Finally, I do get a little resentful when we have a hosepipe ban and I have to haul buckets of my bathwater to water my garden that I've worked so hard on, then see a water sprinkler in the middle of an Oxford roundabout, so that Oxford can win yet another Britain in Bloom award for the tourist advertisements.

Pamela Webber, Bullingdon Road, Oxford