Sir – Cherwell District Council’s lavishly produced Cherwell Link newsletter has just arrived, and proudly boasts that the council have contributed £50,000 of our money to lobby against the high-speed rail link.

Apparently this is because Cherwell with their in-depth expertise of national transport policy have concluded that there is no national business case for it, and by amazing coincidence the list of other councils opposing it are also all along the rail link. Nothing to do with it affecting their minority of constituents living near the proposed route, and having local elections coming up I’m sure.

The line may not have immediate benefits for the county (although there is always potential for a station to be added in region in the future), but the argument is about whether it benefits the country as a whole.

This does merit serious debate, but how dare they pretend to have a greater good in mind and splash our money around to fund basically a Nimby campaign, already backed by powerful vested interests.

Will they similarly be donating to residents opposing the various incinerator projects, or say the massive waste tip in Kidlington?

In the same Link edition, £80,000 cuts to Cherwell’s own planning department are announced. As you reported with Oxford city last week, they will no longer bother to send application notifications to residents.

So they are prepared to massively fund one particular campaign while denying the rest of us our basic consultation rights.

And how much does the Cherwell Link cost to produce? You almost have to laugh at their hypocrisy.

Chris Dicks, Kidlington