Sir, I see the controversial issue of the Angus flag has raised its totally unnecessary head again. This was a personal ego-trip for Councillor Myles, the then leader of Angus Council, who was desperate to banish the Saltire from Angus flagpoles.
I suspect that even he was surprised by the strength of feeling raised in opposition to the idea but in order to save face he then temporised by suggesting that the two flags fly in tandem.
We now know at what cost £30,000 of local tax-payers’ money was wasted on this piece of propaganda, money which could have been put to far better use. During the brouhaha that ensued following Councillor Myles’ proposal, I can only recall two letters in support of the idea, one of which came from Quebec.
The rest, including mine, were totally agin. This sorry farrago should never have happened. This ridiculous flag should be scrapped altogether and the next time Councillor Myles stands for re-election the voters in his ward should remember the cost of electing him £30,000 and counting.
Jim Robertson. 194 High Street, Montrose.
Opportunity for council
Sir, The report in Saturday’s Courier that Historic Scotland is unlikely to grant permission for Perth City Hall’s demolition must have come as a blow to those hell-bent on this option.
This should be seen as an opportunity for Perth and Kinross Council to demonstrate that they can contribute to the future of Perth.
They have been prepared to spend £2 – £4 million of taxpayers’ money to demolish the City Hall without ever considering alternative uses for it. Why have they not considered spending a similar sum to turn the interior of this old building into a modern conference centre?
There is space to convert the interior into two separate multi-purpose levels, with the upper floor a conference centre and the lower floor a catering area for events. Both areas could sub-divide into soundproof meeting areas.
Kitchens exist in the basement and Perth already has experienced caterers who can handle outside bookings for up to 1,000 or more people.
The ground floor could be used for the Street Market when required and the tourist office located in the foyer. The corridors could be used to display work by local artists.
No doubt PKC will point out they already have the Concert Hall, but that is all it is! It cannot provide catering under the same roof and is only used for a very limited number of events.
Modern conferences only allow one hour for lunch and require catering available in the same building.
There is a massive market for this type of event, but it needs to be professionally marketed. New hotels and restaurants follow these centres, plus companies providing ancillary services.
Robin Valentine. 3 Burnbank, Bridge of Earn.
George could help a lot . . .
Sir, George Osborne could do a lot to help Scotland when he announces his budget statement tomorrow.
He could accept the principle of a fuel duty regulator which he once said he supported. This would help hard-pressed motorists and the haulage industry in Scotland.
Scotland pays the highest fuel duty in Europe and it affects everyone as the costs of transport go up and has a knock-on effect on prices and costs of all goods and services.
He could scrap plans to increase whisky duty. An extraordinary 80% of the price of a bottle of whisky in the UK goes in tax to the UK Treasury. Since 1999 Westminster taxes on whisky have increased by a whopping 39%.
He could finally agree to hand over responsibility for air passenger duty to the Scottish Parliament. Air passenger duty puts Scotland’s economy at a competitive disadvantage. Devolving APD was first proposed in 2009 five years of prevarication and delay.
He could implement the minor legal change needed to allow the Scottish Government to mitigate the effects of the “bedroom tax”. It would cost him nothing.
This year’s Scottish Government budget made available up to £50m in discretionary housing payments however, the Scottish Government is currently prevented from providing the full level of support as the DWP has imposed a cap of £22.85m.
He could put his rhetoric on tax avoidance into action and allocate additional resources to tackling tax avoidance and evasion. Tax avoidance costs the UK economy £70 billion a year, a colossal amount equivalent to more than two years’ worth of the Scottish Parliament’s entire budget.
Although George Osborne and the UK Government have shown that they are not interested in listening to voices from Scotland, these five measures would make immediate improvements to people’s lives here but I won’t be holding my breath.
Stewart Hosie. MP for Dundee East and SNP Treasury Spokesman.
Course seems underused
Sir, I refer to George Thomson’s letter in Friday’s Courier and agree entirely with his comments on the views from Perth’s North Inch golf course.
Indeed, part of the scenery is etched on a Perth Artisan trophy.
The terrain is not too arduous to negotiate and the course is not to difficult for those learning to play.
Sadly, the course appears to be greatly underused now when at one time it was quite common to wait from an hour to an hour and a half to get on!
Tom Fisken. 18 Wilson Street, Perth.