Sir, On Wednesday night I attended a meeting of Kinross Community Council at which Persimmon Homes presented their plans for the old Kinross High School site.
Sadly, the presentation was limited to an outline site map, an indicative access road and a rough indication of the number of houses.
So, apart from the fact that they intend to build lots of houses of different types, there was virtually no information provided.
Without information as to layout, levels, heights materials, even as an indication of the way they are thinking, the public consultation amounts to an unacceptable farce.
“We want to build houses here but we aren’t going to give you any detail” can’t be what the legislators intended.
The site needs careful and sympathetic development in such a sensitive central part of the town adjacent to listed buildings and partly in a conservation area.
Persimmon’s failure even to attempt a dialogue with residents bodes ill.
How can we persuade them to “man up” and engage in a proper public consultation? After all, the site has remained derelict for far too long and a well-designed and executed housing estate would be a benefit.
George Hayton. 6 Montgomery Way, Kinross.
Dangerous road to go down
Sir, With regard to the three-game suspension dished out to Dundee United defender Gavin Gunning, I think it is an absolute disgrace that the SFA are going along the dangerous road of trial by television.
The referee’s decision must be final, otherwise all sorts of anomalies could arise.
Surely it is up to players or clubs only to contest a refereeing decision and not others after umpteen re-runs of incidents on television.
What about goals, penalties or fouls etc, not given by the referee but showing up on television due to the benefit of re-runs?
Will they be allowed to affect results after the game?
Also, what about incidents in games not covered by television and not spotted by the referee, who then is responsible for issuing the notice of complaint?
No, the television coverage of a game should have nothing to do with players’ behaviour or results.
It is up to the officials to do their jobs to the best of their abilities or every incident in every game will have to be scrutinised to see if the referee has given the correct decision.
I would say that decisions during games should stand, unless successfully appealed and that trial by television should not even be considered.
Raymond L Nicoll. 22E Hill Street, Monifieth.
Another one ‘over budget’
Sir, It was with dismay I read that another public building budget has once again ‘gone over’. This time Olympia in Dundee.
The reason seems to be additional waterproofing amid fears that the pool would leak.
What was wrong with the waterproofing that was in the budget?
If it isn’t any good why did the architect even put this in the equation?
Would it have not been better to budget for more waterproofing at the initial stage?
Councillor McPherson has valid reasons to question this and should not be panned off with just any answer. Did the council go for the cheapest option, which now turns out not to be?
Someone needs to come up with answers and make sure this never happens again; although, sadly, this seems the norm now.
Ewan MacGowan. 6 Haddington Place, Dundee.
Hacking was ignored
Sir, Am I the only person who is concerned about the recent failure of the main-stream media, including the BBC, to report the hacking of YES Scotland’s website?
They have had a bizarre obsession with a routine smear involving a £100 fee paid to a constitutional expert commissioned by YES Scotland to write an article for a Scottish newspaper, whilst the far bigger story of illegal hacking has been marginalised.
No such zealous reporting of over large donations to the Better Together campaign.
With almost a year to go to the biggest decision for those of us living in Scotland, what chance have we got of getting balanced reporting?
George Dickson. 3 Denwell Court, Alyth.
They would have clashed
Sir, With reference to the orange lobster; what a fascinating picture of the day.
I remember vividly a pet lobster called Charlie that was bred from an egg.
It was bred by Tex Geddes of shark fishing fame on the island of Soay.
Charlie was a stunning bright aquamarine blue.
I think, however, he might have clashed with his cousinnow residing in North Queensferry!
David Gilbertson. Leystone House, Coupar Angus.