Our letter writers today discuss a rejected hotel plan in Dundee, an unfortunate error, the accuracy of the Met Office, our sources of power, parking fees, university education, and a very high-profile protester.
Dundee misses chance of inward investment
Sir,-Yet again Dundee’s City Council’s development management committee, as advised by planning director Mike Galloway, has refused permission for a development in the city. On this occasion it was a 102-bedroom hotel adjacent to the airport.
Mr Galloway said the new hotel, put forward by a Glenrothes firm, was an innovative and quality design and reasons for refusal were that the proposed uses were contrary to the development plan, also the scale and mass of the hotel would overdevelop the site and affect the environmental quality and amenity of what is currently a storage shed.
What environmental quality and amenity does the current site have?
What about the permanent jobs that would follow, or the construction jobs created?
I cannot think of a UK city airport that does not have a hotel nearby and if the V&A project does proceed will we not need more hotel accommodation?
Is a development not better than no development?
Jack Hutcheon.1 Stanley Road,Broughty Ferry.
Student with a cross to bear
Sir,-The candlelight service is always a delight, and your report and pictures (December 13) gave readers a sense of the occasion.
However, I was surprised to see the pleasant-faced server in your photograph described as a crucifier!
One hopes that this young man was actually a cross-bearer, or crucifer.
Helen Lawrenson.51 Bay Road,Wormit.
Forecasters wide of mark
Sir,-In his letter (December 15) challenging my views on global warming and climate change, James Christie states, “It is nonsense to imply that there is no science behind such warnings. The Met Office has said lower levels of Arctic sea ice could result in greater flows of freezing air south into Europe”.
Is this the same Met Office which predicted a barbecue summer a couple of years ago, which predicted a mild winter last year and did not predict our current cold spell of weather until it was virtually upon us?
(Dr) G. M. Lindsay.Whinfield Gardens,Kinross.
Joy of wind in our hairdryers
Sir,-Rather than leaving my car running on idle to clear the ice from the windscreen on these frosty mornings, I have been using a hairdryer to very good effect.
This made me think of relative carbon emissions and how we source our power.
On checking the Neta website this morning, I found that the entire array of United Kingdom wind turbines was producing just 289 megawatts (0.5% of UK electricity) while coal was producing 22,000 megawatts.
I leave it for your readership to consider how many homes and businesses were being powered by each source but would it not be better, in future, if each time a new giant windfarm was opened, the Scottish Energy Minister, or the spokesperson from Scottish Renewables, told us how many hairdryers it could power?
Ron Greer.Armoury House,Blair Atholl.
Parking at public expense
Sir,-Now that Dundee councillors have decided to increase car parking fees in the city centre, are they also now considering charging employees for car parking at some offices?
I presume that those Dundee City Council employees who previously worked in the city centre, where they would have to pay parking charges but have been deployed to other sites now enjoy free parking at their new places of employment.
Like the nursing staff at Ninewells, should not council employees be asked to pay for parking their private vehicles?
I do not imagine that those employed by the council, at locations outside the centre, are required to work unsociable shifts as nurses are, therefore, why should they enjoy a perk at council taxpayers’ expense?
Ken Dickson.Collace Crescent,Dundee.
Shine wears off universities
Sir,-News that accountancy firm Deloitte is to hire employees directly from schools reminds me that some of my shrewdest home-town friends in Falkirk by-passed university in the 1960s.
They went on to fabulous careers in a wide variety of specialities including accountancy and one of them, the late Scott Bell, became chief executive of Standard Life.
University is essential for the professions such as medicine and, in an era when only five percent of the population became students, firms used it as a recruitment filter.
But the days when a degree, even in an obscure subject, was a meal ticket are long gone, with almost half the population attending a “university”, pretendy or otherwise. This is surely the silver lining to the student fees debacle.
The foolish will continue to riot in London but the smart will take it as a wake-up call and consider switching to plan B.
(Dr) John Cameron.10 Howard Place,St Andrews.
Comfortably dumb stunt
Sir,-If Charlie Gilmour, son of Pink Floyd musician David, does not know what the Cenotaph is and what it represents, we have to wonder if he is intelligent enough to be at any university, let alone one of the most prestigious in the United Kingdom.
Sheena Roger.Albany Road,West Ferry.
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.