Sir, – I and many others are very disappointed in the decision by the Scottish Government Reporter to overturn the Fife Council decision for the recent planning application at Rusacks Hotel and allow a massive extension overlooking the first and 18th fairways of the Old Course in St Andrews to go ahead.
This Reporter has probably made this decision purely on planning grounds and not on the damage which this decisionwill surely cause to the conservation and historic value that this change will most surely make.
This historic and iconic view, known the world over, will be gone forever.
What I found interesting was that Councillor Brian Thomson has made a press statement on this planning application while still suspended from being present at all planning meetings for breaching the councillors’ code of conduct on another planning matter regarding a new school at Pipeland Farm.
In a statement on the Rusacks development he has stated that he has concerns “about a negative impact for adjacent residential properties”.
Why then does he not have the same concern for those members of the community around the proposed new school for 1400 to 1700 pupils at Pipeland?
Others who would be affected are the patients and visitors to the community hospital, the elderly and disabled in the sheltered housing complex and all residents along Scooniehill Road and adjoining housing estates.
We would have endless queuing of traffic in Largo Road with 72 or more school buses daily trying to navigate the five roundabouts and four sets of traffic lights to get to the proposed school.
This will cause major problems for emergency services, people trying to get to work and students going to lectures. The list is endless.
There is a much better site available and waiting for the development of a new school which does not have any of those concerns.
It is about time Fife Council bit the bullet and revisited this planning application.
Bill Sangster. 24 Main Street, Strathkinness.
No evidence of support
Sir, – Fife Council leader David Ross says (August 21) that Madras College at Pipeland, St Andrews, has “the support of a majority of parents, pupils and other members of the community”.
Stewart McPhail of Pipeland’s landowner claims huge community support.
Such statements demand firm evidence. What credible, comprehensive public-opinion survey was conducted throughout north-east Fife?
The recent petition organised by an individual, signed by 1,500 local residents, reveals significant opposition regarding the effects on the neighbouring hospital’s functioning and hospice’s amenity. Numerous other valid objections exist.
John Birkett. 12 Horseleys Park, St Andrews.
Dundee V&A a vanity project
Sir, – As a bemused onlooker of the sheer incompetence of our councils (Edinburgh trams, Madras College, Dundee V&A and so on) the Dundee V&A saga rumbles on but without any clarity of the process that is now causing so much embarrassment to Dundee City Council.
It is fine for Dundee to improve itself. Goodness knows, improvement is much needed.
But did no one think to do a cost/benefit analysis on this project before awarding contracts?
Why create a V&A museum in Dundee?
If this, as has been suggested by some, was primarily to attract tourists to the city, what was the projected financial benefit to Dundee ?
There are other less expensive options to make Dundee a more attractive place to visit.
And what about Dundee’s residents? Did anyone take a census to see what ratio of the population would be visiting this “attraction” with any regularity?
My prediction would be that after the initial scrum following its opening, most residents will go back to Sky TV, the internet and the Dundee Rep.
The inescapable conclusion of this grandiose scheme is that it was a vanity project, ill conceived and mismanaged.
Derek Farmer. Knightsward Farm, Anstruther.
Wave of flowers bring delight
Sir, – I would like to express my thanks to the parks department at Dundee City Council for the creation of the wildflower drifts in Dundee this year.
The waves of poppies and cornflowers, especially along Riverside Drive, are truly a sight to behold.
Judy Connelly. 51 Monifieth Road, Dundee.
Does Dundee need doughnuts?
Sir, – With the advent of a new Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in Dundee, and given that Dundee already has a huge obesity problem, might I suggest to the other city centre shop owners that they widen the doorways to their own establishments, lest the number of their patrons fall due to their inability to fit through?
Colin Johnston. Newmill Cottage, By Eassie.
Value of Israeli breakthrough
Sir, – The Israelis have been using laser surgery for cancer tumours for many years but only now is the British health system starting to catch up.
My mother would not have gone through so much trauma if we had kept up with the pace of medical development.
A word to those in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement which seeks to put economic and political pressure on Israel. If you keep to your word about not using Israeli products, this is one of many thousand of benefits from Israel you would have to reject.
Alexandra Smith. 41 Bridieswell Gardens, Gauldry.
SNP puts brakes on progress
Sir, – In response to Alex Salmond’s column, (August 24) one of the worst policies of the Thatcher government was to privatise the electricity supply industry.
The requirement to ensure security of supply, ably performed by the Central Electricity Generating Board, run by scientists and engineers simply disappeared.
Instead, politicians of all kinds were allowed to interfere in generating policy, something for which none were in any way qualified.
Mr Salmond’s article is typical of its genre, making electricity supply a political football. In this case, it is the one issue that determines everything else this SNP government does.
So Mr Salmond’s blaming of everyone else for the closure of Longannet power station and the failure to rebuild Cockenzie is predictable but wrong.
Longannet is closing because it is no longer profitable. Electricity supply should be more important than private profit but the transmission charge of which so much is raised was instituted 10 years ago. Mr Salmond didn’t mention it then as being onerous.
Longannet has also been running well below capacity and the reason is that wind-generated electricity always takes precedence. The more you gain of this intermittent supply the less fossil fuel stations are used.
And that is also the reason Cockenzie will not be replaced. But this was made clear four years ago. It is no longer profitable to build gas-fired power stations when they are little used unless the companies are paid many times more than the actual cost.
The 100% renewables target now no longer looks clever but rather another fine mess Mr Salmond has got us into for which he refuses responsibility.
The Hinckley morass is not comprehensible except in terms of crass political interference.
The reliable Westinghouse design for nuclear power can be built in some three to five years and costs three quarters of the Hinckley costs.
Nuclear power is the future but in Scotland, dogmatic posturing has replaced any debate.
Like moratoria on fracking and GM crops, this government is determined to drive us into an economic and scientific backwater.
Professor TonyTrewavas. Scientific Alliance Scotland, 7-9 North St David Street, Edinburgh.
Trident debate to be welcomed
Sir, – As someone who is undecided about the need to renew Trident, I am hopeful that the debate on its renewal that new Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has promised within Scottish Labour will involve the widerpopulation of Scotland and go beyond the use of party political slogans such as “bairns not bombs” by those who wish to polarise the debate.
Leading the campaign against the Trident weapons system in Scotland, we now have the SNP who estimate that Scotland contributed £100 million to the system last year and that cancelling it will fund everything from nursery places to bus passes.
The reality is that £100m is not a significant amount of money compared to the Scottish Government’s underspend last year (£444m), Scotland’s deficit (£9.8 billion) or even the SNP’s full fiscal autonomy blackhole (£7.6bn).
Furthermore, it is entirely likely that any savings associated with cancelling the Trident renewal (estimated to be between £200m and £300m per year) will largely be recycled within the defence budget.
The arguments for retaining Trident are equally unconvincing and focus on the uncertain future the world faces over the lifetime of the system (up to 2080).
However, as it is inconceivable that the United Kingdom would threaten the use of the deterrent outside a wider NATO action, what difference would it make?
It is within this uncertain context that I welcome Kezia Dugdale’s fresh look at the subject and I am hopeful that she can engage those of us who are interested in a genuine debate rather than party political posturing.
Dr Scott Arthur. 27 Buckstone Gardens, Edinburgh.