I am aghast at the ongoing saga of Cornmarket Street, but I thought that we were going to have a full and independent inquiry into this matter.

Instead the inquiry is to be conducted by county and city councillors, albeit with an independent chairman. In effect, the jury will consist of co-conspirators and the public will not accept this, nor should they.

It would be a more credible inquiry if it was carried out by a Local Government Ombudsman.

I would like the following questions answered:

1) When the original contract of £1.7m failed, the contractors went bust after agreeing to refund £600,000. A new contract was then awarded for £2.7m for remedial work. It has since been claimed that the new contractors have very close links to the original ones! It is normal practice, indeed compulsory with public expenditure, to put contracts out to tender, but in this case did this happen?

2) In a discussion I had with Councillor Keith Mitchell on local radio he assured me that it was a good contract with all the loose ends tied up in order to safeguard the public purse. How come therefore the safe £2.7m contract ended up at £5.1m?

3) Mr Mitchell also said that a private deal had been made with the contractors that was conditional on it being kept a secret. It is usual for public funds to be open to public scrutiny but how can the public be arbiters when such information is withheld?

4) Many excuses have been made over underground services, cellars etc. Yes -- just like any other main street in the land, and half of Oxford knew they were there. As the surveyors were paid many thousands, should they not be held responsible for any oversight?

5) The final surface in Cornmarket has yet to be laid. Does the present £5.1m cover this or are we to be told that there will be yet more expenditure?

To add insult to injury we have expensive seats that nobody likes and millions of pounds that have not been properly audited. Is it not high time that councillors involved in this never-ending fiasco did the honourable thing and resigned? BRIAN P CANNON, Great Bourton, Banbury