Sir, – While I admire the changing face of Dundee I cannot help but asking: at what cost?
Yes, the Waterfront project is one of great vision and it would appear to be the catalyst of new investment however, has there ever been a coherent plan as to how to deal with the ever-changing demands of a city centre?
Dundee is not a big city centre and with the large number of smaller retail units within close walking distance of the whole area, surely support and encouragement should be given to businesses to help maintain a wide choice of shopping.
This should apply particularly during the construction phase of the Waterfront.
I speak with some experience.
I am the owner of the business Rugby Plus, which used to trade at the bottom of Union Street, and which still trades successfully in Aberdeen.
Rugby Plus, when we opened in Dundee, was one of the first specialist shops in the UK.
We supply kit and equipment for supporters and players alike and have a strong business in the supply of kits to many sports clubs and schools throughout the country.
Among many others, we supply Dundee Rugby Club and St Leonards School in St Andrews, both of which we started dealing with when in Dundee.
The day the walkway over from the railway station was demolished was a key day in trading.
For small specialist retailers, footfall is everything.
Within a short time, Rugby Plus, the Golf Trap, Gows, all in Union Street, closed down or moved away.
These were three specialist businesses.
While not knowing the individual cases of each of the shops, I am pretty sure if these businesses were a goldmine it is likely they would still be there or at the very least been sold as going concerns.
It is not easy running this type of business, but what type of city shopping is wanted?
I do not think that business owners are looking for handouts but back-up and support in other ways from the council could help that is, if there is a desire to have a bustling, wide range of businesses that will enhance the Waterfront and V&A.
Or is the thinking the other way round in that the Waterfront and V&A will enhance the shopping experience?
The Waterfront appears to be going forward while the shopping experience appears to be going backwards.
David Brown. Rugby Plus, 314 George Street, Aberdeen.
Restrictions on City Hall’s future
Sir ,- Had your columnist Jim Crumley (March 1) made some inquiries before advocating the total destruction of our burgh’s City Hall, he might be promoting a different approach to demolition.
So, for his sake, here are matters he has overlooked.
Our City Hall is a scheduled building and the law cannot permit its removal.
Potential developers are unable to invest in an alternative use because Perth and Kinross Council insists on leasehold terms.
These terms are deal-breakers for re-investment by anyone other than its current owners.
Nobody knows who set that restriction or told agents to impose it, but that is why Perth City Hall lies empty.
Andrew Dundas. 34 Ross Avenue, Perth.
Time to seize the opportunity
Sir, – Following the collapse of the latest bid to inject life into the defunct and deteriorating City Hall, surely now is the time for Perth to grasp the opportunityto provide a stunning, centrepiece public square that will help meet its transformative aspirations to become UK City of Culture and one of Europe’s best small cities.
I accept that the loss of the hall would be felt by many.
Replacing it with a magnificent open space, enclosed by St John’s Kirk, the St John’sCentre and dozens of cafes and restaurants, would, however, go a considerable way to continuing, and enhancing, 1,000 years of public use of this important site.
(Dr) Norman Watson. 6 Glebe Terrace, Perth.
A new home for the monuments
Sir, – The future home of Crieff’s stone monuments and set of stocks will be decided by Perth and Kinross Council’s lifelong learning committee in a few weeks’ time.
Two options are on the table keep them where they are in the old Town Hall cellar, or transfer them to an area within the library at Strathearn Community Campus.
A full public consultation was carried out during winter to determine public feeling and, while a slight majority opted for keeping the monuments in the old Town Hall, I’m sure they did so with a desire to keep the monuments central, in the High Street, rather than with a desire forthe monuments to be displayed to their best potential.
It is beyond doubt that a larger display of all of Crieff’s and Strathearn’s heritage would be better sited at our library.
In effect, this could be our mini-museum.
It is no secret that the old Town Hall’s future is in immediate doubt and, even if the Crieff Business Improvement District board do soon secure a tenancy there for office space, it can only be for a five-year period.
The board will also have to ensure any staff or volunteers within their office keep the monuments accessible to the public during regular opening hours.
With all of these potential problems, and only one benefit (a central location for tourism), it is my hope the committee opts to transfer the monuments to our library.
It is fully accessible, with car parking, a building heavily used by locals with floor space that can be extended to increase the size of a heritage display and, above all, has three schools with more than 1,000 pupils on its doorstep.
A drop-in session to view the results of the recent consultation will be held at the campus this Saturday from 11.30am until 2.30pm.
Craig Finlay. Clark Terrace, Crieff.
Misrepresenting Trump’s call Sir, – While fully aware that news items should be written tersely, I would suggest your statement that Donald Trump (February 26) has made “calls to ban all Muslims from the United States” seriously misrepresents Mr Trump’s position, especially as your words could easily be readas his calling for all Muslims to be expelled.
I understand Mr Trump proposes a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US until such time as the Islamist threat to the US’s security has been assessed and suitable defensive measures put in place.
Gordon Dilworth. 20 Baledmund Road, Pitlochry.
Authoritarian threat of the SNP
Sir, -You have to admire the style of Nicola Sturgeon expounding her progressive social democratic credentials on Channel 4, as if it was a beacon for the rest of the UK to admire.
Over the last two years, this progressive social democracy from the SNP appears to have included flooding digital media to attempt to drown out any voices of disagreement, hounding journalists who might want to challenge some of their claims, seeking greater control of television and repeating, in an Orwellian way, Westminster bad, Holyrood good.
I think, as Scots, we should be fearful of such progressive socialdemocratic credentials they have shades of authoritarianism.
Gerry Marshall. Thistle Cottage, Main Street, Kinnesswood.
SNP’s success is not surprising
Sir, – As a consequence of the no vote, Scottish Labour MPs, led by Jim Murphy, have all but gone and the SNP has sent 56 to Westminster.
Labour down south is in turmoil and the Tories have been cleft in two, thanks to the split over the European referendum.
The Government is still borrowing around £10 billion a month to feed the national debt of £1.6 trillion. Our pensioners continue to receive the second-lowest retirement pensions in Europe and suffer the double whammy of the plundering of any investment income they have squirrelled away.
The steadily rising euro suggests the pound in a UK piggy bank is not as safe as we were led to believe.
Yet the Government is determined to maintain membership of the exclusive club specialising in weapons of mass destruction and base its arsenal on the Clyde, whatever the cost.
Having been told that the only way to secure our place in the EU was to stay in the UK, we now know that’s exactly how we may lose it.
Is it any wonder that all polls predict another Holyrood triumph for the SNP?
Joseph G Miller. 44 Gardeners Street Dunfermline.