Sir – I’d like to respond to Mrs Bale’s and Mr Burlingham’s comments about extra bags of rubbish and public toilets (letters, September 17). The response to the city council’s ‘no extra rubbish’ campaign has been very postive and our hope is to have even more toilets available to the public in future.

Our refuse staff have delivered hundreds of reminder cards, but only a handful of warning letters which could lead to a fine. The overwhelming majority of residents put all the waste, left over after recycling, into their wheelie bin. Oxford’s recycling rate is now up to 37 per cent and we hope to do better still when food waste collections are introduced at the turn of the year. Our proposals for toilets would keep open more than 20 public loos across the city, up-grade Gloucester Green toilets and keep more WCs open longer. A community toilet scheme, signposting some pub, restaurant and shop loos, should mean more toilets for the public. A few loos which are not well used would close. But Wolvercote, for example, would open all summer.

Cllr John Tanner Board member for a cleaner, greener Oxford Oxford City Council