Sir, The Courier debate that took place recently about Forth Energy’s proposed biomass plant showed the strength of opinion against the project.
Unfortunately, Dundee’s councillors, who will take a crucial decision in a month’s time, were not there to listen.
It seems they may have been advised by council officers not to attend, as it could make them ineligible to take part in the vote.
This would only be the case if they expressed a personal view on the project they should have been there to listen to the views of the public, in line with their code of conduct.
Dundee’s councillors are expected to meet on Monday June 10 to consider whether the findings on air quality set out by Forth Energy are acceptable. If not, there will have to be a planning inquiry to look into the proposal in more detail.
Now is the time to tell them to take steps to reduce the dangerous levels of air pollution, not add to them by supporting this harmful monstrosity.
The stakes for Dundee City Council and the Scottish Government were raised by the decision of the UK Supreme Court that Government was failing in its legal duty to protect people from the damage to their health resulting from air pollution, which causes 29,000 early deaths each year.
This means that cities with dangerously-high pollution levels, such as Dundee, will be under much greater pressure not to permit any developments which might add to existing high levels of air pollution, such as the biomass plant.
Andrew Llanwarne. Co-ordinator, Friends of the Earth Tayside, 8 Glasclune Way, Broughty Ferry, Dundee.
The double standards of civilisation
Sir, A triple axe murderer walking freely about the streets of Dundee causes one to wonder at the logic of our elected members of parliament, who are so opposed to hanging yet have quite readily sent missiles and bombers to slaughter and maim innocents in Iraq or any such country they chose to attack.
Terrorists here are treated with kid gloves but it’s gloves off with knobs on for those innocents abroad.
Yet I can cast my mind back to when hanging was still in force and one of the arguments for its retention was: ‘Surely it is better to be hanged than spend the rest of one’s life in jail?’
The assumption then, of course, was that the alternative to hanging must be life imprisonment. Not so now, even for multiple offenders who are out and about and with a friendly mask, behind which a fiend still lurks. How civilised we are.
Leslie Milligan. 18b Myrtlehall Gardens, Dundee.
The English man’s burden
Sir, As a proud North Briton, may I say a word of thanks to our wonderful Westminster Government for their kindness to us too-wee, too-poor, too-stupid Scots.
Firstly, because of their decency in taking upon themselves the burden of dealing with the North Sea’s oil bounties. I mean to say, how on earth could we deal with all that money by ourselves?
I wonder how those Norwegians manage? I suspect the answer is that they are in regular contact with the appropriate department/s at the “Mother of Parliaments” who, doubtless, provide unfailingly good advice.
The most important department of all is, of course, the treasury, where our very own Boy Wonder, George Osborne, has not only saved us all from a triple-dip recession but also applied a sticking plaster to the economy, which is now, lest we forget, “healing”.
And, of course, we should not forget their love of Scotland, as shown by their willingness to place Trident in our waters. This means that, in the unlikely event of a nuclear war, we will be the first in line for obliteration. Evidence, if any were needed, of those lovely people in
London’s unfailing concern for this country.
I hope those who share my opinions will rush to get into print their support of my assertion that the UK is truly a wonderful place to live and (not necessarily) work in.
John Campbell. 40 Auchrannie Terrace, Dundee.
Rachman and stereotyping
Sir, It is interesting to note Graeme Brown’s comments in Tuesday’s Courier.
His statement that “letting agents have been allowed to carry on in an unregulated sector reminiscent of the Wild West” is distressing to agencies like ourselves who work hard to provide a professional service, balancing the need to meet the very separate demands of landlords and tenants.
Again, we appear to be working against thecommon misconception that the majority of landlords are Rachman-type rogues, squeezing the last drop out of despairing tenants.
Today’s landlord, who has placed his property with a reputable agency such as Martin & Co, realises the importance of meeting current legislation demands and is happy to so do.
Whilst I can understand the concerns of organisations such as Shelter Scotland and realise rogue landlords are still operating in what is correctly referred to as an unregulated industry, I truly believe every item of recent legislation further tightening the rental market has resulted in already-compliant landlords doing more while rogue landlords go on as usual with little regard for how it should be done.
A good agent will self-regulate and welcome legislation encouraging every landlord to provide a good service.
Myra Blaik. Lettings manager, Martin & Co. (Kirkcaldy), 93 St Clair Street, Kirkcaldy.