Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, – It would appear that the age of austerity has yet to dawn on Fife House if the council-run care in the community house in my street is any example.
This modest ex-family home has already had an £80,000 extension and last year the entire garden was excavated and garage demolished to make way for a wheelchair ramp. This cost about £30,000, an expensive white elephant that took so long to build the lady it was intended for passed away before it was completed.
Fife Council building services are also never away from the place doing repairs, so the sight of a building services van is not unusual, but in the past couple of weeks there have been up to eight council vans clogging up the road as it appears they have branched out into the business of kitchen refits and central heating installation.
Also, by remarkable coincidence, all the kitchen appliances must have conked out at the same time as they have all been replaced by new ones.
A few questions come to mind.
Is the budget for this property a bottomless pot of money? Is this latest work really necessary? Did it go out to tender? Should council staff be doing this kind of work anyway? Do they really need a van each?
Andrew Kemp.28 Mossbank,Rosyth.
Dictatorship comments are a bit rich
Sir, – It is a bit rich of Councillor Bob Myles to accuse Provost Helen Oswald of running a dictatorship (Courier, September 18). Isn’t this the same Councillor Myles who, when leader of the ”rainbow alliance” administration of the last council, tried to force an unwanted Angus flag on the county?
So desperate to get rid of Scotland’s saltire from our public buildings were his team that they tried to force through an overwhelmingly opposed measure to suit their political ends, causing such a furore they had to back down.
As for Councillor David Fairweather’s comments that if the SNP don’t like it any proposal by the opposition has no chance, if my memory serves me right that was exactly the position in reverse when his lot were in power.
Wouldn’t it be nice if our local representatives stopped playing politics and got on with doing the best possible job for the people of Angus?
Jim Robertson.194 High Street,Montrose.
Need to be fit to shop in city
Sir, – I was interested and stirred by the letters in your pages concerning the worries about parking in Perth.
The same thing has happened in Dundee already. There has been a very large increase in the mileage of double yellow lines and wardens throughout the centre of the city and its immediate surroundings.
It is therefore very difficult to shop for small things in the town unless you are reasonably fit. The result is that there are very few good small shops remaining.
A friend and I counted more of them in the much smaller town of Forfar, where the parking philosophy is very different.
I cannot help but wonder if diminishing returns might apply here. If peace was declared on the driver, more money might be made for the council out of business returns than it gets from parking charges and fines.
Just a thought, but it would attract more shoppers from outside Dundee.
Robert Lightband.Clepington Court,Dundee.
Young do have a right to vote
Sir, – Alan Bell (Letters, September 20) complains that the reason the current crop of teenagers are wanted by the SNP to vote in the 2014 referendum is because 14% of them have literacy difficulties and so are unable to assimilate the facts necessary to reject independence.
Mr Bell may be interested to know that from a 2009 Scottish survey it was found that 27% of adult Scots also have literacy difficulties, double that of young people. So surely, on that basis, it would be irresponsible of any government to allow Scots of any age to vote on constitutional matters due to the current levels of illiteracy.
To suggest people, young or old, should be banned from voting because they have trouble in assimilating facts is very unwise.
Democracy is for all and not just for a so-called educated elite; and with this once-in-a-generation decision on Scotland’s future young Scots have every right to vote because it is their future and their country.
Malcolm McCandless.40 Muirfield Crescent,Dundee.
No worries?
Sir, – A couple of years ago I attended a public windfarm consultation event in Montrose held by Seagreens.
There were few folk about when I was there so I had plenty of opportunity to speak to officials and I asked about the effect on marine wildlife because I was worried about it.
I was assured that proper environmental impact assessments had all been carried out and there were no worries. I wonder who did that assessment?
Mary Singleton.Scotston of Kirkside,St Cyrus.
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. Letters should be accompanied by an address and a daytime telephone number.