Robin Spokes complained that he had hit a wall of silence from Green councillors regarding his concern over chimney pots being taken down from a house in London Place, St Clement's, Oxford (Oxford Mail, June 23).

This is more than a little unfair.

When he first alerted me to the possibility, while there was still scaffolding against the house, that the chimney pots had been taken down, I not only phoned him twice, but phoned the conservation officer, asking him to look into it and contact the owners if necessary.

Mr Spokes phoned again when the scaffolding was removed, telling me that the chimney pots had not been replaced.

I tried on five separate occasions to phone him back, but he was out each time and because he had no answer machine, I could not leave a message.

When I finally managed to catch him at home, before his letter appeared in the Oxford Mail, but after he had sent it, he admitted that he is not often at home and that was why the conservation officer probably had not managed to contact him either.

It is a shame that our present laws allow chimney pots on a harmonious line of fairly historic houses to be removed, even though they are part of a conservation area.

The house in question would have had to be one of the older listed houses in the terrace for us to be able to do anything about it.

I appreciate that Mr Spokes is often not at home and keeps a very acute watch on what is going on in St Clement's.

But I wish I could persuade him at least to arrange a 1571 service, so that we can more easily respond to his concerns.

Councillor Nuala Young,Green group,Oxford City Council