I reject any allegation of “mismanagement” or “over management” in Paul Carter’s letter (Oxford Mail, October 12).

Mr Carter alleges that the experience of working with the county council on the subject of the future of libraries has been “an eye-opener”. Can I assure him we have had a huge number of requests for information and we responded to every single one of them with care and attention.

Despite the fact the council has to make £119m of savings by 2015, we have proposed keeping all 43 libraries open with the use of some volunteers. We are going through the exhaustive process of analysing consultation responses before coming up with proposals to be put to the cabinet on December 12. Every other one of our services is having to cope with cuts with the exception of fire and rescue and children’s social care.

Mr Carter alleges that our service is over-managed. Perhaps he is unaware that we are reducing the costs of our management, professional and support services by £273,000, which will see a 40 per cent reduction in senior management posts within the library service.

Larger libraries have also made savings through the introduction of self-service, which is reducing staffing expenditure by £315,000 pa and significantly reducing the number of posts.

The county council is happy to discuss these issues further with Mr Carter if he wishes. However it would be appreciated if he made his arguments and assertions based on some facts rather than general assertions. In so doing, it would also be helpful if he tried to put himself in the shoes of decision-makers who are having to make exceptionally difficult decisions in common with colleagues across the public sector. I am particularly saddened that Mr Carter has waited for the closure of the consultation period to make his attack. He could have made his points earlier and allowed some time for debate within the consultation period.

Keith R Mitchell CBE Leader of the Council Oxford