Sir – New cycle bridges across the Thames would be welcome, as is councillor Cook’s idea (Report, February 9) to use part of a new Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to build them. So is councillor Hoddinott’s suggestion to have a Vale of White Horse CIL and spend part of it on cycleways (Letters, February 16).

However, councillor Hoddinott repeats the error of prioritising the proposed cycleway along the B4044 between Botley and Farmoor. This campaign has momentum, but that must not make it the Vale’s top priority.

In the last decade, the B4017 between Wootton and Abingdon saw 11 cyclists injured and one killed. In the same period, the B4044 between Botley and Farmoor had only four cycle injuries, and it has had no cycling fatality since 1978. Faced with these facts last October, a county councillor claimed “Accident statistics tell us very little”. Tell that to victims and their families.

The county council spent £52,000 designing a Wootton cycleway, but then shelved the project. This investment is wasted unless someone funds the cycleway and the county gets it built.

A district council that sets a CIL should spend it in a justified priority order. The Farmoor proposal has some merit but it should not queue-jump the more urgent Wootton one. Campaigners who want less urgent priorities to queue-jump should seek private donations, not public revenue.

Take another example. The county council considered building a cycle bridge at Bablockhythe, which would substantially improve cycling routes between Oxford, Witney and several villages.

It would also shorten Regional Cycle Route 47, which currently has a long detour via Newbridge and the A415. However, there is little casualty reduction evidence to justify a Bablockhythe bridge, so until all more urgent calls on public funds are met, it must await a Lottery bid or private largesse.

Hugh Jaeger, Oxford