The Courier week ends with our readers raising the issues of the new Perth bridge, snaring, the theme of this year’s Christmas stamps and plans for a biomass plant in Dundee.
Give taxpayers say on Perth bridge Sir,-Your letter from a supporter of the proposed pedestrian and cycle bridge for Perth (September 23) has obviously only listened to councillors’ defence of their spending.
He has failed to realise that it will cost £1.8 million for the bridge, plus £800,000 for ancillary work a total of £2.6 million.
Only £1.25 million will come from Lottery funding, with local taxpayers having to stump up the balance.
Perth is already facing a shortfall of £38 million next year, which means that many council services will be cut. Can Perth afford this expenditure and why have the public not been given the opportunity to protest at a public meeting?
Robin Valentine.3 Burnbank,Bridge of Earn.
Nature can control itself
Sir,-There are a couple of unsettling statements in the article (September 21) on snaring. Roseanna Cunningham tells us that the recently published guide to snaring “addresses animal-welfare issues”.
How well can an animal fare with its neck or body or leg caught in a wire noose?
Hugo Straker (Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust senior adviser) says that he “cannot stress enough that fox and rabbit control is necessary”.
Tell that to the trapped badger, roe deer or domestic pet. As Professor David Macdonald, director of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at Oxford University, has found out, foxes regulate their own numbers. More cubs will be born as a result of snaring and killing the adults.
And it is too obvious to state that foxes will reduce rabbit numbers if left to get on with it and thus release more time to all of those involved in this nasty business to spend their lives more nobly and kindly.
Mary Macintyre.Tobermory,Priormuir,St Andrews.
Christ taken out of Christmas
Sir,-I was dismayed to see that our Christmas stamps are going to depict Wallace and Gromit. What is Christmas? The birth of Christ, not a display of secular cartoon characters.
I shall be buying my stamps well in advance, showing the face of our Queen.
(Mrs) Isabel Wardrop.Broomhill,111 Viewlands Road West,Perth.
Incinerator blight on city
Sir,-Unicorn Property have housing and commercial developments at Dundee docks and naturally the firm have a vested interest in backing the plans of Forth Energy to build an enormous biomass incinerator adjacent to their award-winning Clock Tower project (September 22).
Unicorn are hardly going to thrust their hands in the air with horror exclaiming foul play and that this monstrous incinerator is going to blight their interests.
Who would purchase a £400,000 flat next to an incinerator if even the developer was against it?
I am saddened for this company as they have invested a great deal in our harbour area and in Dundee.
However, their spokesman speaks of very little else other than money, volume and how it won’t affect Unicorn Property, the housing they have created and their remaining property interests in this area.
This biomass incinerator will effect Dundee as a whole and all of its surrounding residential areas.
I wonder, had they been able to predict their projected particulate-belching neighbour, whether they would have have invested so heavily?
Ian Milne.Netherton of Craigie,Craigiebarn Road,Dundee.
Probe ‘green’ plant proposal
Sir,-You quote Unicorn Property developer Tim Allan as saying that the proposed biomass plant for Dundee might contribute to what he calls a “halo effect”, that along with the £70 million waterfront development and the prospect of the V&A, it may draw investment to the city.
But given that one concern of the objectors seems to be atmospheric pollution, how big is the incinerator halo?
I also see that the term halo effect crops up in the context of personnel recruitment where it refers to the risk that an interviewer will notice a positive trait in an interviewee and, as a result, will overlook their negative traits.
This is, of course, also a danger when contemplating the visual impact of interesting and striking buildings on the basis of computer simulations.
Mr Allan expresses worries that we are still in the “teeth of a recession” but it is during such downturns that there is a temptation by developers to cut corners after approval. An inquiry under the Electricity Act is one way to help avoid that. It would exam the atmospheric and sustainability issues associated and allow public testing of any halos.
Neil Robertson.4 Glamis Terrace,Dundee.
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.