Sir –– As a disabled person I was rather alarmed to see the proposals for extensive pedestrianisation in Oxford city centre.

The proposals map made it look as though people like myself would not be able to drive and park anywhere in the city.

Coming to Oxford to shop and enjoying its wonderful setting, architecture and cultural attractions are about the only things which keep me sane and I am now rather worried that disabled people will, once again, be forgotten and become an after-thought.

Could Mr Mitchell please confirm that plans will take into consideration disabled /elderly people who rely on being able to access Oxford city centre by car and that disabled parking spaces will be part of the new scheme and remain in the same locations and in a minimum of the same numbers as currently?Will essential benches be provided across the city?

My visits to Oxford are one of my few pleasures left and allow me a modicum of independence. Public transport and walking are simply not an option for many of us and I hope this is appreciated by the healthy and fit bright sparks who find pedestrianisation such a wonderful concept for us all. If driving is altogether banned from the city centre for all, including disabled people, then quite frankly I might as well just retire to my bedroom, turn the light off and just wait to die.

It is difficult enough for us at the moment, with ridiculous schemes banning disabled people from driving down the High (walking from one end to the other is not an option for some of us and driving around the city is just too time and fuel consuming, also creating pollution).

So please exercise a tiny bit of compassion and empathy and remember that some of us do not have the same options and that our lives should be considered in the decision-making process. I noticed that there were no disabled people on the oh-so enticing drawings for the scheme. No wheelchair users, no people on crutches or sticks, no elderly people with Zimmer frames.

Nothing even hinting at people whose needs are different than the "average" fit shopper/visitor to our fair city.

Some of us do rely on our cars and should not be made to feel like criminals for wanting to remain as independent as possible, and wanting to live as full a life as able bodied individuals.

Cassandra Petibout, Witney