Sir – Much as I am a fan of Oxford’s shops, I’m bewildered by Rescue Oxford’s continuing insistence that their businesses require Oxford’s citizens to tolerate the threat to health and safety and the despoiling of our precious public space with parked cars and motor traffic.

If indeed there was a simple correlation between easy parking and business success, then Venice’s complete lack of any car access and New York’s scarce and appalling expensive parking would suggest that both cities ought to be complete commercial failures. I challenge the representative of Rescue Oxford to come up with a good answer as to why Venice’s and New York’s shops thrive.

Could it be that the phenomenon of a less-than-full Westgate car park is related to Oxford’s overstuffed cycle racks? And if there is spare capacity in the car parks, how about giving some space over to the cyclists for parking?

Sure, the council’s funds would not be helped if cyclists didn’t pay for parking in their garages, but perhaps if Thames Valley Police decided to stop their amnesty on speeders in 20mph zones and levied appropriate fines, more of the council tax bill could be apportioned to the council and less to the Thames Valley Police.

That way lawbreaking motorists would pay more for using Oxford’s streets, and responsible ones would pay less. Too obvious a good idea?

Ted Dewan, Oxford