Sir, In a recent national survey, Oxford was voted the best place in the country for shopping (City rated best for shopping, March 31).

And last week's colourful advertising supplement for the Covered Market clearly illustrates the reason why.

It is the wonderful assortment of small, and yes, even perhaps eccentric, shops that make shopping in Oxford such a special pleasure. In modern marketing jargon, this is what provides Oxford plc with its unique selling point that special essence that our rivals cannot imitate.

And yet, rather than nurturing this specialness, Oxford City Council has seemed intent on destroying our greatest asset.

Not satisfied with driving out a succession of small businesses with escalating rent increases, the dominant Labour group has been intent on forcing through their plans for the disastrous expansion of the Westgate Centre.

If these plans ever got built, the expanded Westgate's only chance of success would be by sucking the life from smaller, more exciting, shops elsewhere in the city and these are Oxford's real heart and soul.

One of the most positive items of business news reported recently has been the upturn in trade experienced by shops in the Cowley Road.

It is time to dump this disastrous Westgate plan once and for all, along with the administration responsible for it, and move forward, nurturing Oxford's unique assets, so that we can continue to be the country's best place for shopping for decades to come.

Bob Cowley, Oxford