Reply to Oxford City Council's second response

Many of us were taken aback by the City Council’s recent response to this petition. This petition was set up not to attack the Council, but to express public support for the Council to follow London and increase its SWEP (Severe Weather Emergency Protocol) provision to cover every freezing night. Yet the Council’s recent response has acquired a tone of hostility, suggesting that Vikki Cope’s death had nothing to do with her being homeless and out on the streets (I wonder, have you told her husband this? Don't - he won't be so amused), and repeating the claim that no one was turned away from emergency shelters this Winter because of a lack of capacity, which is widely known to be untrue amongst those who sleep rough in Oxford, and I too personally bore witness to the contrary. It is unclear whether the Council Officer responsible was being wilfully disingenuous, or is merely an over-worked victim of bureaucratic disconnect and is not party to some rather crucial relevant information. Giving the benefit of the doubt, I am happy to meet with the author of the Council’s response to discuss this further. People in Oxford are signing this petition because we want to help those who have nothing left to lose but their lives, before they lose that too. We’re not interested in getting into fights with the Council. We’re interested in humanity. And we don’t have the time to wait for the next person to die.