SIR -- Yes, councillors Simmons and Palmer, who criticised my views on suggested road closures in east Oxford (Oxford Mail, December 13), I do live in a village cul-de-sac.

I moved here because of drunks throwing bottles over the garden wall and other nice little habits, not because of problems with traffic or noise.

I have the roar of a high-speed rail line wafting across my theoretical rural tranquility.

I have also lived in St Clement's and Divinity Road in Oxford at various times. When I moved to these places, I knew of the shortcomings, as surely as I knew of the lack of a shop or any decent public transport here, the blast from the rail line, not to mention the gentle sounds of jets and helicopters from Oxford Airport, Kidlington.

The traffic problems are not new in any part of Oxford.

Taking away one person's problem and shoving it somewhere else, as happened last time roads had barriers put in, cannot be the answer.

I only wish I did know the answer.

SEUMAS LEAHY

Jerome Way

Shipton-on-Cherwell