Sir – It is no surprise that Oxfordshire Conservatives are planning cuts to services for ordinary people.

But their proposal to axe most of the county’s youth service is particularly foolish. Oxfordshire is already one of the lowest spenders in the country on support for our young people. In this, and in respect of other preventative services, has the county council not yet learnt the truth of the adage ‘it is cheaper and wiser to build a fence at the top of the cliff than station an ambulance at its foot’?

Tom Wylie, Oxford