Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, I read with pleasure that Ninewells Hospital has been allocated new radiotherapy equipment for the continued treatment of cancer.
I would urge NHS Tayside to consider the rural communities of Perth and Kinross when looking to decommission the current equipment.
It would benefit the cancer sufferers of Perthshire and the rural communities for the current equipment to be relocated to Perth.
At present, those suffering from, and receiving treatment have to travel on a daily basis to Ninewells.
In some cases this can involve be a daily round trip of between 42 to 100-plus miles a day. Over a 20 treatment session this equates to between 820-2000-plus miles for a 10-15 minute appointment and creates a very heavy financial burden and worry for families.
Journey times may vary from 45 minutes in some cases to well over an hour in others when the conditions are good.
In winter journey times are greatly increased .
These may not be the most important factors during this time of worry, but can be greatly relieved with the possible relocation of the decommissioned equipment.
I would urge all sufferers past and present to canvass NHS Tayside and contact their elected representatives. Together they can push for this important equipment to be used to the benefit of Perth and Perthshire.
Alastair McLean.4 Fletcher Place, Crieff.
Impact studies compromised
Sir, I’ve followed Newburgh Community Trust’s (NCT) proposal to ruin the amenity of their village and the setting of much of the Tay with three huge wind turbines.
I was surprised and dismayed that this proposal gained any strength or indeed funding. Could it be that these applications are purely driven by the subsidies made available to energy companies and landowners?
The Freedom of Information request you report (July 27) confirms that NCT has tried unsuccessfully to mislead the press and the public by attempting to hide the fact that Scottish Natural Heritage told NCT of their ‘serious concerns’ during the feasibility study in April 2009 (not this May as NCT has claimed).
It seems that it has become common practice for energy companies to gloss over or to minimise or even erase areas of potential concern in submissions to planners.
It just seems absurd that environmental impact studies are conducted by the applicant and not by an independent third party expert. This cannot go on.
For preserving the setting of the Tay from a set of monstrous turbines that would be visible for many miles we are indebted to Scottish Natural Heritage (the only group to emerge for this woeful saga with their professionalism and integrity enhanced).
But once this project is finally killed off there remain a number of important questions.
Given the exponential growth in the number of windfarm applications being submitted, one has to be deeply concerned about the future of Fife landscape.
Stavros Michaelides.Wester Waltonhill,Chance Inn,Cupar.
Kings Theatre asset to Dundee
Sir, Your front page article (July 28) indicates that Dundee will be world famous when V&A Dundee opens. It is now time to plan ahead for the extra facilities the city will soon need.
There are at least three requirements: more hotels, better transport and more activities in the evening.
It is good that two new hotels in listed buildings are to be created more are needed.
The local Tay Rail needs to be established very soon linking Dundee with Perth, Arbroath, Leuchars, and later St Andrews, with a frequent service.
It is quite likely that an international airport will arise at Leuchars for the lower cost airlines. Charter flights would serve the population, golfers, students, and tourists.
The former railway into the air base should be reopened so that travellers will eventually be able to take the train from the terminus direct to St Andrews bus station or change at Leuchars for Dundee.
Our city already has a number of fine restaurants, the Repertory Theatre, film theatres, the MacManus Museum and Art Gallery and the Caird Hall. Soon the new Olympia will open.
The Kings Theatre should be refurbished and then reopened with weekly changes of programme.
The building is in a good condition and only awaits funding to be purchased.
Its only future is as a presenting theatre with touring companies for drama, ballet, musicals and opera as well as the best of local shows.
Peter Murray Spencer.11 Castleroy Crescent.Broughty Ferry.
Epitaph for the Dundee multis
Sir, My father’s cousin, the legendary journalist James Cameron, had a love-hate relationship with Dundee where his career began at The Courier and his first wife died in childbirth.
He wrote that of all British cities, it had “the greatest potential for grace and charm: set on a firth of breadth and grandeur; built around the slopes of a small mountain.”
When I lived in London in the late 1960s I would meet him for “a small refreshment, dear boy” in a Fleet Street pub and regale him with Dundee’s latest planning disaster.
He would shake his head at our civic leaders’ ability to create “a facade of unparalleled charmlessness; an absence of grace so total that it was almost a thing of wonder.”
He was particularly scathing about the 1968 multi-storied atrocities built in the Hilltown.
When they were blown up on Sunday I know somewhere a ghostly glass was raised.
Dr John Cameron10 Howard Place,St Andrews.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL.