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Letter Writing Campaign We are currently running a letter writing campaign. We hope you will consider writing Cllr Mitchell a ‘proper letter’ to complain about the proposed library cuts. Emails are quick and simple to reply to, letters are not. All letters will need a response. We have prepared some letter templates which you might like to use. Letter collection boxes will be found in the foyer of the Library and the Reception at Windmill School if you wish to save the postage. The letter boxes will be collected on Sat 12th Feb. for a mass presentation at a Council Meeting. Please share this with your friends. Thanks for your support Lynda |
Here below a variety of letter templates on which to base a letter to Chris Mitchell County Council Leader of Oxfordshire. They include those writing from the perspective of a young family member, elderly, disabled etc.
Collection boxes in St Andrews and Windmill School foyers until Fr. 11th Feb
Headington Library until Sat. 12th Feb.
Cllr. Keith Mitchell
County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1ND
February 2011
Dear Cllr. Mitchell,
Re: Proposal to cease funding Headington Library
Your changes to the library services in Oxfordshire mean that as a Headington resident I will be expected to travel to Oxford to use the Central Library. I have mobility problems and journeys into Oxford are something I rarely do. Headington is a wonderful place to live because the bank, post office, supermarket and library are all within such close proximity of each other.
I am sure it was not your intention to cause older people and the disabled distress but that is what your decision has done. I will no longer be able to access books independently and I will no longer be able to benefit from the company and contact the library provides. I know this will cause stress to me and to others. Can you explain how you are going to address my concerns and what your reasons were for targeting Headington?
Yours sincerely,
Cllr. Keith Mitchell
County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1ND
February 2011
Dear Cllr. Mitchell,
Re: Proposal to cease funding Headington Library
As a holder of an over 60s FREE bus pass I am concerned about the number of over 60s who are now going to be making additional journeys into Oxford to use the Westgate Library. This measure seems to be saving money which will then be handed over to the local bus companies. Has any assessment been done into the number of library users who are over 60.
Yours sincerely,
Cllr. Keith Mitchell
County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1ND
February 2011
Dear Cllr. Mitchell,
Re: Proposal to cease funding Headington Library
Can I please urge you to reconsider withdrawing funding to Headington Library. The cost of public transport to Oxford will be too expensive for my family to use the Westgate library on a regular basis. Travelling into Oxford with a pushchair is time consuming and difficult, often we cannot get on the bus when it stops in Headington because there is already a pushchair on board. Will you be instructing the bus companies to carry more pushchairs per journey? We currently use the library after we have finished playing in the park, it provides us with a pleasurable FREE family outing.
Yours sincerely
Cllr. Keith Mitchell
County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1ND
February 2011
Dear Cllr. Mitchell,
Re: Proposal to cease funding Headington Library
I regularly use the library with my toddler when we have been to the park. We Like to sit and look at lots of books and choose the ones we will take home. When the library closes can you please explain what provision you intend to make to ensure that pre-school children will be able to get access to books?
Yours sincerely
Cllr. Keith Mitchell
County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1ND
February 2011
Dear Cllr. Mitchell,
Re: Proposal to cease funding Headington Library
I am writing to express my concerns about the proposed closure of Headington Library.
In the press it has been stated that you have made assessments of local needs. I cannot believe that any sections of the Headington community could possibly have thought that travelling to Oxford on public transport or by car was a viable or affordable alternative to using our local library.
Can you please provide me with information concerning the individuals and groups who took part in these consultations.
Yours sincerely,
Cllr. Keith Mitchell
County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1ND
February 2011
Dear Cllr. Mitchell,
Re: Proposal to cease funding Headington Library
It is my opinion that the proposed changes and restructuring of the Oxfordshire Libraries has been done without due concern for local communities. Especially a large community like Headington with it’s well used library.
· Social impact on communities loosing there libraries does not justify the financial saving
· No consideration has been given to the needs of sections of the community living in deprived areas and the housing expansion in areas like Barton
· No travel impact assessment have been carried out about how older people, disabled, children, young families and the unemployed are going to use and afford transport links to the Westgate
· The Council have displayed a lack of logic around why some libraries have been recommended for closure and not others.
· Closure of Headington library would mean not only a loss of books but the removal of the only FREE access to computers and the internet locally
I would appreciate your comments on these matters.
Cllr. Keith Mitchell
County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1ND
February 2011
Dear Cllr. Mitchell,
Re: Proposal to cease funding Headington Library
Your changes to the library services in Oxfordshire mean that as a Headington resident I will be expected to travel to Oxford to use the Central Library. I have mobility problems and journeys into Oxford are something I rarely do. Headington is a wonderful place to live because the bank, post office, supermarket and library are all within such close proximity of each other.
I am sure it was not your intention to cause older people and the disabled distress but that is what your decision has done. I will no longer be able to access books independently and I will no longer be able to benefit from the company and contact the library provides. I know this will cause stress to me and to others. Can you explain how you are going to address my concerns and what your reasons were for targeting Headington?
Yours sincerely,
Cllr. Keith Mitchell
County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1ND
February 2011
Dear Cllr. Mitchell,
Re: Proposal to cease funding Headington Library
Oxford and Oxfordshire have a diverse population. For many there is an excellent quality of life with access to good housing, schooling, leisure and employment opportunities. For others there is unemployment, low skills level, poor housing, anti-social behaviour. The restructuring will mean it is harder for people to escape their social class and have aspirations for the kind of advancement that reading can provide for them.
Closure of libraries would mean not only a loss of books but the removal of FREE access to computers, internet and information necessary for up skilling people so they can enter the work place, in homes where there are limited resources.
The elderly, disabled and unemployed will have their convenient access to FREE books removed, little consideration being given to the most vulnerable in our communities
Children (of a certain age) can have independent use of local libraries which they will not have when local libraries close
Additional travelling costs and time will affect library use when local libraries close
Adequate library provision at a local level is key to improving educational opportunities and raising standards. The plans show little regard for the needs of children who are already suffering because of the educational cuts, which are having an impact on resources in schools, in our area with its poor educational attainment
Libraries play an important role in supporting learning and reducing barriers to learning particularly for those pupils who come from disadvantaged backgrounds
Can you please address these points and explain why you have chosen to make the most vulnerable in our community the biggest losers?
Yours sincerely,
Cllr. Keith Mitchell
County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1ND
February 2011
Dear Cllr. Mitchell,
Re: Proposal to cease funding Headington Library
It is my opinion that the proposed changes and restructuring of the Oxfordshire Libraries has been done without due concern for local communities. Especially a large community like Headington with it’s well used library.
· Social impact on communities loosing there libraries does not justify the financial saving
· No consideration has been given to the needs of sections of the community living in deprived areas and the housing expansion in areas like Barton
· No travel impact assessment have been carried out about how older people, disabled, children, young families and the unemployed are going to use and afford transport links to the Westgate
· The Council have displayed a lack of logic around why some libraries have been recommended for closure and not others.
· Closure of Headington library would mean not only a loss of books but the removal of the only FREE access to computers and the internet locally
I would appreciate your comments on these matters.
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