Sir, There are two opposing views about the future of Dundee Airport – close it and save £4.5 million to boost Dundee’s economy, or keep it open and build on the existing service to Stansted. While the Dundee area deserves a decent regional airport, it is not working in its present form.
As economist Tony Mackay points out, the loss expected for 2014-15 is £4.5m as passenger numbers have declined sharply year on year from 26,774 in 2013-14, to 22,865 in 2014-15, equating to a subsidy of £210 per passenger paid by thetaxpayer.
The latest plan for Flybe to operate a daily Dundee return flight to Schiphol is dependent on support for the route from the Regional Air Connectivity Fund in competition with 18 other applications. The cost of setting this up is estimated to be £1.5m.
The biggest factor preventing the growth of Dundee Airport has to be the short runway which prevents commuter-type aircraft (100 to 180 passengers) from landing.
Any service which can only carry around 40 passengers is bound to be expensive. What the Dundee area needs is an airport served by the likes of EasyJet or Ryanair operating out of Leuchars to London, other UK destinations and theContinent.
There must be 250,000 residents in the area, quite apart from the tens of thousands of people expected to visit the V&A, plus the multitude of tourists, golfers and academics who come to St Andrews.
Furthermore, the railway station at Leuchars offers first class connectivity to Dundee and beyond.
This could be a shot in the arm for all those who would like to travel for business or pleasure from the Dundee catchment area using regular sized aircraft at sensible prices.
Ian Crombie. Keepers Wood, Cupar.
Land tax key to prosperity
Sir, It was very telling that in the latest televised election debate, not one of the party representatives raised the issue of land costs and availability in terms of the problems faced in housing supply.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage mooted this as a supply and demand problem.
This is completely wrong. There is no shortage of building materials or the skilled labour to turn them into homes.
The shortage is in the availability of land at a suitable cost.
Land is in fixed supply, all the land that is going to be made has already been made and it cannot respond to supply and demand economics.
It was Benjamin Disraeli who pointed out that all the great problems of politics eventually come down to the ownership of land.
There is probably no place in Western Europe where this perception is more valid than in Scotland, where the iniquity of private land tenure lies behind much of our social and economic problems.
The SNP have not fully grasped the full potential of land reform.
However, both Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney should come to realise that their social and economic aspirations can only be attained by collecting the land rental value of the 30% of the land surface area, 50% of the marine solum and 70% of the coastline of the current United Kingdom that is Scotland.
Ron Greer. Armoury House, Blair Atholl.
Remember our environment
Sir, I have yet to hear any mention of the environment from our party leaders.
Mankind faces an uphill battle to save the planet from our destructive actions.
We should be placing this above financial concerns.
Alan Harris. 7 South Wynd, Colinsburgh.
World still burning coal
Sir, Walter Attwood, Friends of the Earth Stirling (April 17) is one of the usual suspects who rushes to print when someone dares to challenge their beliefs on climate change.
In this instance, he chastises Dan Arnott who wrote an amusing letter blaming volcanoes for global warming.
Mr Attwood needs to get out more and see what the world is doing and not doing.
What they are not doing is cutting their emissions.
What they are doing is burning coal.
Countries who refuse to cut emissions are China, India, Japan and a host of developing nations.
India will soon overtake China as the world’s biggest importer of coal.
India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea will dramatically increase their coal-fired generating capacity in the years ahead.
By 2040, fossil fuels will account for three-quarters of energy use.
Since Scotland only accounts for 0.15 per cent of global emissions, I suggest Mr Attwood wastes no time and gets on a slow boat to China to remonstrate with them and then visits the other culprits.
Clark Cross. 138 Springfield Road. Linlithgow.
Infuriating intrusion
Sir, I was left angry last Thursday night.
Was it really necessary to receive a telephone call at 23.59 trying to sell me solar panels?
Joyce Anderson. 60 Station Park, Lower Largo.
Leave ospreys alone
Sir, Mr Burdon-Cooper (April 17) states that he is not attending T in the Park but that does not mean he will not profit from the festival.
He refers to the finances of “one of Perthshire’s historic houses” but what has that got to do with T in the Park?
I did not realise the aim of the event was to fund country houses.
Why does it “make sense” to encourage the birds to move their nesting site?
These things fly thousands of miles every year and come back to the same tree. Why should they have to be shifted just for money?
The ospreys are back and breeding but Mr Burdon Cooper shows a total disregard for the wildlife of Scotland.
Are we now to expect to see raves under the nests of ospreys across Perthshire?
I am not a member of any bird-loving association but, as an angler, I love watching them swoop on fish.
Keith Robertson. 5 Fox Street, Carnoustie.
Birds can fend for themselves
Sir, Mr Burdon-Cooper (April 17) makes sensible points about the ospreys in our area.
It would appear they are now well established in Perth and Kinross, which would indicate they are well able to look after themselves.
I enjoy watching ospreys on the Tay when I visit Perth and agree they are beautiful creatures and so majestic in full flight.
They do not seem to be upset by the hustle and bustle of the city.
I am sure they will be smart enough to move on for a while if they do not like the music from T in the Park.
Other birds and animals will do the same.
Who is it that decides the hierarchy of bird and animal life anyway?
We have already seen a cull of 5000 hedgehogs in North Uist in the Western Isles to protect birds’ eggs.
It is estimated this extermination exercise will cost Scottish Natural Heritage and, hence, the Scottish taxpayer £90,000.
All wildlife should be valued.
Robert Anderson. Kirkton, Arbroath.
Press ahead with T In Park
Sir, Why should a group of individuals be allowed to try to stop the T in the Park music festival, an absolutely fabulous event that is world renowned and is very well organised and run?
If these people were so concerned about the threat to wildlife and habitat, where were they last year when tented villages, massive corporate buildings and huge marquees were being erected over hundreds of acres for The Ryder Cup, work that went on for six months or longer?
That event accommodated about a quarter-of-a-million people and was only a few short miles from the proposed T in the Park venue at Strathallan Castle.
The vast majority of locals cannot wait for the festival to take place and will embrace it as did the local population in Kinross and surrounding areas when it was held at Balado for a good number of years.
The minority of objectors should never be allowed to succeed in stopping any true great event, whether it be in sport, music or any other massive gathering.
Thomas Bryce. 126 Kirke Park, Methilhill.
Austerity just SNP tactic
Sir, The SNP’s assertion that the General Election is about austerity not independence insults the intelligence of Scots.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon’s approach is clear.
She realises the topic of independence will encourage tactical voting among Labour, Tory and Liberal-Democrat voters.
Much of the success the SNP may achieve in terms of Westminster seats will result from pro-Union votes being diluted, allowing SNP parliamentary candidates to win.
Former First Minister Alex Salmond is keen to create a block of SNP seats after May 7 not because he’s concerned about wrapping the United Kingdom in a cosy cloak of Scottish social justice.
His overarching intention is to blackmail whichever party he props up so that he can achieve creeping independence for Scotland.
The Scottish electorate would be better served by greater transparency on these issues from the SNP hierarchy.
Martin Redfern. 4 Royal Circus, Edinburgh.