Sir – Oxfordshire County Council’s Tory administration has dealt Blackbird Leys, together with many other communities in the county, a double blow.

Oxfordshire’s youth service is being cut to the bone. We fear that the new service envisaged will not meet the needs of young people on Blackbird Leys who stand to lose the benefit of the existing services, and the support of the excellent staff that run them.

We do not dispute the need to focus on the children, young people and families in most need, and our current youth service has been successful in doing that.

But we are concerned that this proposal misses the key point: that the county council has a statutory duty under the Education Act 1996 to secure access to educational and recreational activities for all 13-19 year olds (and to age 24 for those with a learning disability). We hope that the administration at County Hall conducted a thorough analysis of the legal position of the new proposals before announcing them publicly. It should now make that legal analysis publicly available.

Then there is the attack on our public libraries, half of which, we are told, will close. Blackbird Leys Library is not just about books: it’s about story time for very young and primary school children; it’s about making computer access available for people looking for jobs or housing; and, importantly, it’s about having a space where young people can go to for help with homework. Many young people on Blackbird Leys do not have the luxury of a home computer.

Blackbird Leys is one of the biggest estates not just in the UK, but in the whole of Europe. It is simply wrong that in Oxfordshire, one of Britain’s richest counties, a Conservative council is proposing to take away not only the public library but also the current youth service.

No details are given of what provision for young people will continue on the Leys. The position is similar in many other communities across Oxfordshire.

Britain is not on its knees. Our public debt is lower as a proportion of GDP than many other major economies (the US and France included). Closing libraries and shutting youth services is a choice. It’s a choice made by the Conservatives in Oxfordshire. Communities like Blackbird Leys will suffer from this cultural vandalism.

Val Smith, Richard Stevens

Leys & Lye Division, Oxfordshire County Council