Sir, – The report in your issue of October 17, High hedge row move a mockery of the act, highlights yet again the difficulties of using this legislation which was introduced to resolve what was, and remains, a problem for many people.
The main issue is, of course, inconsiderate owners who have planted trees which are totally unsuitable for small gardens if they are not looked after, such as cypresses, sitka spruces and willows.
In small gardens, trees are no different from other plants.
They should be trimmed, pruned or taken down before they become too large.
If this is done, it would avoid disputes and difficulties such as shading of and overhanging branches affecting adjoining properties.
Trees are clearly seen as different from other garden plants but they are not.
The main difficulty, however, in using the Act is the definition of what constitutes a high hedge and a consequent nuisance, coupled with the government guidance to councils.
Single trees seem to be excluded as are groups of trees which, according to a previous case decided by a council, are deemed to be woodland, even if in a small garden and are therefore excluded from the Act though they may well be a nuisance.
Unless the Scottish Government extends the Act to cover trees, it is unlikely ever to provide the solution that was promised when it first came before the Scottish Parliament.
At the same time, the preposterous fees charged by councils might also be reviewed to provide for a modest fee to visit the site and a larger fee if the matteris deemed to fall within the Act and can be pursued by the council concerned.
D J Hogarth. 12 Moyness Park Drive, Blairgowrie.
Lantern risk to harvest fields
Sir, – You reported (October 15) about a fire in Kirkcaldy caused by a Chinese lantern.
Group manager from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Alex Smart, advised anyone letting off lanterns to avoid built-up areas.
Are rural properties and possessions less valuable or less likely to go on fire than urban ones?
Over harvest time I found several lanterns lying in grain fields. If crops or straw had caught fire it would have caused a large amount of damage.
Straw sheds are also at risk of a lantern blowing into or against them.
John Johnston. Annfield Farm, Dunfermline.
Has lottery become unfair?
Sir, – Is it time for everyone to stop playing the National Lottery?
The chances of winning big were never good but since the 50s numbers were added it has now become a total con.
There have been three draws, each containing at least one number over 49 and three rollovers.
They now claim more winners with the introduction of a free ticket for two numbers but the tickets are only worth the original stake money so how are they winning tickets?
In the Saturday October 17 draw, two people had five numbers plus the bonus and received a paltry £54,061, this following a double rollover – absolutely disgraceful.
I believe it is time for the public to start asking serious questions concerning the running of the lottery.
Britain has more than 400 registered lotteries. In future, my money will be going to a fairer one.
Keith Forbes. 6b South George Street, Dundee.
Named person scheme failure
Sir, – The future of the SNP’s flagship named person scheme is called into question by the conviction in Elgin Sheriff Court of a named person.
It has been reported the sheriff orderedthe woman to be placed on the sex offenders’ register.
This named person scheme mandates the appointment by public authorities of a person to oversee the upbringing and wellbeing of each child in Scotland from before birth until they are 18. The scheme presupposes that every named person can be trusted with confidential information about children and the power to initiate interventions into families. This fundamental assumption is now demonstrated to be false.
The scheme also assumes no parent can be trusted to bring up their children without supervision by stateofficials.
Common experience teaches us that this assumption is wrong – evolutionary theory confirms this. Also, the scandalously poor outcomes of children in care demonstrate that the greater the state involvement in children’s upbringing the worse the result.
The named person scheme is not due to come fully into force until August next year, although some authorities have already implemented it. The First Minister should accept this scheme has no place in a free society.
Otto Inglis. 6 Inveralmond Grove, Edinburgh.
No respect for democracy
Sir, – At the SNP conference the First Minister delivered comforting words of how she and the SNP will be guided by the twin principles of respect and democracy in their approach to a referendum re-run.
This intended to reassure and encourage all potential voters, including those who voted no last year, that they can support the SNP without necessarily triggering another referendum.
How wonderful it must be to hold so many of the country in your thrall and to get away with such a play on words.
The reality is clear for all to see. The SNP Government intends to respect the democratic result of the September 2014 referendum only until the point it decides the circumstances favours the SNP, when it will put us all through the whole process again.
Many in the SNP speculate the conditions will be right within four to five years, perhaps earlier depending on the outcome of the EU vote.
For Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP, democracy is about getting the right result for them, the cost to the rest of us meanwhile is uncertainty and continued mismanagement from a government continually distracted by trying to find ways to prise our country apart.
Keith Howell. White Moss, West Linton.
Give us votewe demand
Sir, – The people of Scotland wiped the London unionists from the political map in Scotland, leaving them for dead.
Now we are told by the leader of the SNP that she needs to see if the No voters have changed there minds beforeshe calls for another referendum.
Would she call a referendum if the SNP were returned with a larger majority at the nextScottish Parliamentary election?
If the answer is no, why are we voting for them?
It looks to me they are back peddling. Have they bottled it? Or have the pleasures of London and the money to made for the leading lights of the SNP become too muchto be thrown away on independence?
Have they been bought and sold for English gold, a parcel of rouges in a nation? What are they waiting for?
Never have they been so near the finishing line so let’s finish the race.
Every voter who wants independence sees this as a betrayal and a cop out.
Was independence not what the party was formed for? Wake up lassie before you go the same road as Labour who betrayed us too.
Freedom for Scotland: that’s what the Yes voters want. This time make it that only Scots can vote.
After all, the non-Scots all have a country to go home to if Scotland votes for independence.
Don’t kill Scotland’s chance for freedom to be a nation again.
John G Phimister. 63 St Clair Street, Kirkcaldy.
SNP’s flawed governance
Sir, – Nicola Sturgeon, recently declared: “I believe with all my heart that Scotland shouldbe an independent country”. Really?
What people surely want is leaders who use their heads and not merely represent a party full of romantics whofantasise about aScotland based onvoodoo economics and unrealistic promises.
We are on the “cusp of a second oil boom” or “oil is merely a bonus” (ignoring a £8 billion black hole and mounting oil job losses) springs to mind.
They continue to claim we have a strong onshore economy but ignore the fact our spending is unsustainably higher than the rest of the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, unemployment is growing in Scotland and falling in the rest of the UK, we have the worst fiscal deficit out of 34 OECD countries, spending is less on the NHS compared to England, we continue to cover our countryside with steel forests, waste our resources on Gaelic signs and a language few want to understand or speak, centralise power and impose nanny state regulations.
There is little doubt the SNP have lost their way and their economic argument for independence i in tatters, but now their governance ofScotland is seriously flawed and will cause trouble in the ranks as matters of the heart turn to matters concerning the head, pushing the opportunity of another referendum into a never-neverland.
Ian Lakin. Pinelands, Murtle Den Road, Milltimber.
Rugby’s hope for future
Sir, – At last a Scottish team turns in a performance worthy of the title world standard.
Who would have thought that Australia would be battling to overcome a tactically aware Scottish side inthe dying seconds of a the World Cup quarter-finals?
It didn’t end so well but we have seen that with an injection ofconfidence, a Scottish side can equal the world’s best.
Bob Ferguson. North Muirton, Perth.