Sir – It is a bitterly cold morning. A slight thaw followed by a heavy overnight frost has turned the previous day’s snow into a layer of ice, to which an earlier shower has added a further light covering of snow, making the pavements treacherous to walk on.

Looking out on this wintry scene, my eye catches a flash of fluorescent orange. Two workmen have appeared in the road outside.

Perhaps they have come to clear the snow and ice from the pavements; something which has not happened in our little cul-de-sac in the 26 years we have been living here.

But no, their efforts are directed not at the pavements, but at a few inches of roadway next to the kerb, which one man is scraping with a hoe, while his partner follows with a brush, making little piles of snow and debris. Perhaps they are preparing for the long-threatened double yellow lines which the county council is going to install to stop indiscriminate parking by Oxford Brookes University students (and normal parking by residents, but that’s another story).

My curiosity gets the better of me, and I go out to investigate. The men are from Oxford City Council and they have been sent out to brave the sub-zero temperatures to clear away, not snow and ice, but fallen leaves. I suggest to them that they would be better employed clearing the pavements, and they agree, but say they have been sent to clear the leaves. Why was clearing fallen leaves a priority on a morning when clearing the pavements would have brought much greater benefit to the population of Oxford, and lessened the burden on the NHS by preventing injuries caused by falls?

I would have offered the men a warming cup of tea, but I had to go out to drive a neighbour to the hairdressers because she was afraid to walk to the bus stop on the icy pavements. Need I say more?

Ian G Simpson, Old Marston