Sir – I am sorry to disappoint Mrs Manley (Letters, November 18) but the county council has not had to “bow to common sense”. When we found our Road Safety Partnership Grant from central government cut, we announced that we would cease funding the Road Safety Partnership.

We did this because we chose to cut this rather than funding for children’s services, which was also under threat. In short, we prioritised children over cameras.

What has happened since then, is that the police have put forward a way of bringing the cameras back into use without any cost to the county council. Our approach has produced a saving to Oxfordshire council taxpayers and an innovative approach to restoring speed cameras. I defend our stance on this issue.

Keith R. Mitchell, Leader of the council, County Hall