Sir, – Amidst the euphoria surrounding the opening of Dundee’s V&A, it is a pity that other aspects of the 30-year redevelopment of the city centre have been overlooked or ignored.
The new railway station has no dropping off points and the taxi rank is hidden away from the main entrance.
The opportunity was missed to have had a transport interchange with easy access from the trains to city and country buses as well as taxis. Instead the country bus station remains remote from the railway station and the city centre has been transformed into a sprawling bus stance.
The road system will apparently require a lane to be closed during opening hours of the V&A to allow the dropping off and picking up of those arriving by coach.
The city centre is effectively shut down when concerts are being held in the Slessor Gardens.
The enthusiasm for planting trees (including in front of the V&A) is already obscuring the road signs for the Tay Road Bridge and Ninewells Hospital. Soon the trees, as well as the controversial office block, will obscure the view of the V&A.
Lastly there is the unsightly plethora of recycling bins that in many cases are placed in rows in front of the windows of ground floor flats.
Malcolm McCrow.
Navarre Street,
Dundee.
Office block is a mis-step for city
Sir, – Just when it looked like Dundee had at last got things right with the opening of the superb and world class V&A museum, the powers that be have to go and spoil it all by implementing a really thoughtless planning decision.
Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde, as a neutral visitor to the city for last weekend’s Slessor Gardens concert, called it absolutely right when she described the view of the V&A being obliterated by a non-descript office block as she walked down Union Street.
This could have been a unique and stunning view for Dundee
Instead, we have the equivalent of Edinburgh building an office block in Princes Street gardens blocking the castle, or Glasgow doing the same in the middle of George Square. It just wouldn’t happen.
So why in Dundee? Why hide the jewel in crown?
The problem is not the building as such, but the position and the scale of it.
I understand the economic benefits of the regeneration project, but why did that building have to be built there?
I’m sure that Chrissie Hynde won’t be the only visitor to Dundee who will be left scratching their head and wondering why this was ever considered a good idea.
What a wasted opportunity to display this treasure in its full glory.
Calum Strathie.
Dishlandtown Street,
Arbroath.
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Still time to save day for V&A?
Sir, – I fully endorse Chrissie Hynde’s opinion of the office block facing the new V&A.
It beggars belief that such an overbearing rectangular block should have been allowed permission by its proximity to bully and brutalise the fine and imaginative lines of the brilliant new gallery.
It is too close to the V&A and too abruptly vertical to allow the gallery’s flowing lines the space they need to express themselves.
By contrast, the new railway station at least has some variation of shape and scale.
Is it too late to step back the upper floors of the office block which threatens when finished to loom over and dominate the V&A?
If Dundee hopes to emulate Bilbao then it needs to get the basics of design and asthetics right and to give its star newcomer building the context it deserves.
Roy Bartlett Henderson.
Viewlands Road.
Perth.
Council cuts will all add up
Sir – I refer to recent criticism by Lib Dem councillors of Fife Council’s Labour/SNP administration, for rejecting the Lib Dems’ proposal to boost spending on roads by £10m.
What the councillors fail to mention is that the £10m would have been a loan, with annual repayments of £850,000. To fund the repayments, £350,000 was to come from extending/increasing parking charges across Fife. The remaining £500,000 was to be funded by a range of cuts, the most notable of which would have been a £400,000 cut to the cleaning specification of schools.
The Lib Dems are absolutely right to hold the administration to account, however, it’s a bit disingenuous to not explain the consequences of committing an extra £10m to roads.
For a number of years, Fife Council has been faced with an annual reduction in its funding. Whether that’s the fault of the austerity agenda kick-started by the former Westminster Conservative-Lib Dem coalition, or the Scottish Government using local government as a shield to make cuts while protecting its own priorities, or both, is another debate.
What is clear is that, unless local government starts to be properly funded again, the cuts will continue.
Cllr Brian Thomson.
Forbes Place,
St Andrews.
Gold star for Rep production
Sir, – I just wanted to tell people about the latest production now on at the Dundee Rep Theatre, The Yellow On The Broom.
If you haven’t already been I would urge you not to miss it.
There is drama, prejudice and hatred against the Travellers, but there is also kindness, love and a little bit of comedy as well.
The music and singing really added to the experience. I loved it.
June Reid.
Findhorn Street,
Dundee.
