THE city council needs to take a 'long, hard look' at how it interacts with people – after it emerged just 58 had commented on its budget.

It approved it at a meeting at Oxford Town Hall on Tuesday.

But the council's executive board heard it had received a disappointing number of responses to its plan.

Its statutory deputy leader Linda Smith said the authority had to take a 'long, hard look at the process' of how it interacts with residents over its budget consultations in the future.

She made the comments at the city council's executive board meeting on Monday, ahead of the budget.

Council leader Susan Brown said it 'seemed unlikely' that the total of people who had commented was a big enough sample across the city.

Of the respondents, 49 per cent of them said they agreed with 'stopping less important services'.

A total of 91 per cent also agreed the city council has to work with other councils where it can.

The authority said 'there was most support' for buying homes for homeless families.

Seven out of 10 people agreed 'building or acquiring affordable homes was the highest priority' for the council.

Brexit and its impact and running out of money for homelessness were identified as 'the main risks' to the budget.