Today’s correspondents discuss subjects including biomass plants, oil field exploration, Dundee FC’s need of its fans, and the V&A Museum.
Can we afford V&A during recession?Sir, I find it amazing that Dundee City Council is going to spend a vast amount of money on the V&A when cuts are coming.
What will the ordinary person in Dundee get out of it? Nothing but bigger council tax bills to pay for its upkeep.
If the council has the money to spare, it should fix the pot holes and sort out the flooding issues
Look at the ugly developments at the waterfront. And the ship Discovery costs us thousands of pounds every year.
Where will the money for the V&A come from?
Ed Hunt.15 Ballochmyle Drive,Dundee.Why silence on biomass?Sir, John Marshall’s article (September 29) explains very clearly the problems and dangers of a large biomass plant.
Even the USA, which is anything but green, does not allow them to be built in or near population centres.
The health hazards are well recognised and legislated against in most states.
As usual, our local politicians hide their heads in the sand but strangely get agitated on matters of insignificant importance.
Their silence on this matter, along with our political masters Salmond and Mathers’ unhealthy love affair with land and sea-based foreign-made wind turbines, make us a laughing stock among our neighbours.
John Cruickshank.Meadowview Drive,Inchture.Resist Euro oil-drilling ban callSir, The call for an EU oil-drilling moratorium by the European Parliament is extremely disappointing and potentially disastrous (September 29).
To look at the situation in the Gulf of Mexico and on this basis undertake a blanket ban is a disproportionate knee-jerk reaction, especially given the stringent regulations imposed on the industry in the North Sea.
While the European Parliament is free to make such a recommendation it fortunately has no power to impose any drilling ban, as this power remains at the national level.
It is, however, still a deeply disturbing call to make. It is Scotland’s oil and gas industry which is the only thing keeping the London Treasury afloat and is an essential part of our energy mix.
Over the next few years, billions of pounds worth of North Sea revenues will flow to the London Exchequer to shore up the UK’s precarious finances.
For the European Parliament to talk of a ban at a point when the energy sector remains fragile and is supporting the faltering UK economy is extremely damaging and is a move that must be strongly resisted.
Alex Orr.77/2 Leamington Terrace,Edinburgh.Dundee FC needs fan powerSir, I empathise with the pain felt by Dundee FC supporters over the new troubles facing their club.
These fans are wedded to their club by adoration and familial loyalty. But I do fear we are witnessing the beginning of the end of a once-dynamic club.
Dundee FC owns little more than its illustrious name. Its Dens Park home has been sold and the club is reported to be in debt to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
Perhaps its last asset is the huge fan base that remains in Dundee and further afield.
If these supporters were mobilised to get behind their team, then Dundee FC might have a fighting chance of surviving beyond the end of this season.
If fans can secure survival, they should then look up the river to Perth to base their future on St Johnstone – a model of a well-run club.
Iain Mitchell.Hawkhill, Dundee.Recreating our past glorySir, Your correspondence on calls to rebuild Dundee’s Royal Arch has a lot of merit. Other major European cities have succeeded in recreating their damaged or neglected past and I can think of no reason why my native city could not do the same.
On a visit to Gdansk, I saw photographs of how the Russians flattened the city. The Red Army afforded the Second Belarus Front several days to sack Gdansk and savage its people.
However, after the war, medieval buildings which had been levelled were recreated right down to intricate internal carvings.
The result is that the centre of Gdansk has been restored to its Hanseatic splendour.
By comparison, the rebuilding of Dundee’s Royal Arch would be a minuscule project.
Perhaps, if public funding could be found to pay for materials, the project could be used as a means to train young people in the craft of traditional stone masonry.
William Robertson.Greenford,Middlesex.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL.