I WOULD like to correct a number of factual inaccuracies in Oxford city councillor Nuala Young’s letter (Oxford Mail, November 5) regarding this week’s council meeting.

The video was shown to council members part way through the meeting and not at the beginning, as Cllr Young states.

It was originally intended to be shown at the start, but after discussing the matter with the leaders of the political parties, I agreed that it should be shown later.

This was to give priority to members of the public wishing to address council and to ask questions.

The time allowed to debate motions was not curtailed.

As Cllr Young should know, the council’s constitution allows a maximum of 90 minutes for motions on notice.

Eleven motions had been submitted. This inevitably reduced the amount of time for debate on each one.

invited council to defer motions which were not urgent in order to allow more time for debate on the more controversial ones.

The motion on debt advice and credit unions was not deferred. It was supported unanimously without debate.

The video that was shown wasn’t simply entertainment either. It showed interviews with a number of voluntary organisations in Oxford.

They explained how they use their share of the £1.5m which the city council allocates annually to organisations which support children, the elderly and environmental and community activities.

These benefit some of the most vulnerable people in Oxford.

This is surely worth 20 minutes of councillors’ time.

Mary Clarkson, Lord Mayor of Oxford, Oxford City Council