Sir, Over the past few weeks The Courier has been to the fore in identifying issues related to the proposed biomass installation at the waterfront in Dundee.
Unfortunately it has overshadowed a more immediate issue the local “green” disposal arrangements for garden rubbish. From three strategic locations in Dundee we must all now go to Riverside Drive with excess garden refuse.
For those of us who live in Broughty Ferry and others north of the Kingsway the round trip is very substantial and the volume of traffic crossing the city will significantly add to CO2 emissions, which will far outweigh any savings to be made by this centralisation.
During the growing season (usually May to October) the volume of traffic using Baldovie alone for garden waste disposal is enormous with substantial queues in the evenings and at weekends.
Derek Scott and George Ferguson (Anger grows over garden waste trek, April 13) are absolutely right to highlight this ridiculous decision and to push for a reinstatement of the previous arrangement.
Three years ago our council tried to close the three refuse areas at 5.30pm to save overtime thus ensuring that anyone who worked could only access the site at weekends. Thanks to the intervention of Councillor Scott and his colleagues this was reversed and the sites (now two) are open until 8pm.
Two years ago anyone with a small trailer was required to sign forms which stated that they were not traders again this stupid decision was rescinded on protests from users. None of these attempts to substantially reduce the service were the subject of any form of consultation. So much for local democracy.
What we really need, and is much more cost effective, is for three brown bin collections per month over the growing season and not dozens of brown bins creating a greater eyesore than the biomass proposals. When are we going to get a council which listens to its citizens and does not confuse service cuts with efficiency savings?
Malcolm Murray. 3 Tower Court, Ralston Road, West Ferry, Dundee.
Challenge to councillor
Sir, A controversial application to build three 100-metre high wind turbines near Auchtertool has been given the go-ahead by the Kirkcaldy area committee despite their planning department recommending refusal (Courier, April 9). In protest three members of the community council resigned.
Cllr Susan Leslie, who voted for the proposal said: “Being committed to renewable energy means making realistic sacrifices.”
She is obviously not aware that wind turbines do not reduce CO2, they increase fuel poverty, they cause health problems, the subsidies drive manufacturing companies into oblivion and turbines cause environmental problems in the UK and China.
Turbine blades are not recyclable but must go into landfill. How green is that?
Countries responsible for 85.7% of emissions refuse to curb them and instead grow their economies. Think America, China, India, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia.
Europe is now turning to cheap coal to reduce electricity costs.
Since Liberal Democrat Ms Leslie is so committed to renewable energy and she wants to make a realistic sacrifice I challenge her to try to sleep for one week near a wind turbine. There are many who would gladly offer her free accommodation.
Clark Cross. 138 Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
She should go meekly
Sir, Jingoism in life. Triumphalism in death. Of all people, Margaret Thatcher should go meekly to meet her Maker, to answer for her sins.
An odious spectacle looms tomorrow.
Robert A Lyon. 32A Albany Terrace, Dundee.
The reality of the 1970s
Sir, Those who blame Baroness Thatcher for the state the UK is in today and portray Britain as a happy, contented country prior to her becoming PM, have evidently forgotten the realities of life in the 1970s.
We had a decade of rampant inflation, became the first developed nation to go grovelling to the IMF and faced never-ending industrial disputes.
Let’s not forget how a Ford factory destined for Dundee was torpedoed by inter-union rivalry.
Or how the narrow Grunwick dispute saw many firms with no link to Grunwick picketed.
Or how employees in many industries who kept working despite union strike calls were harassed and called “scabs” or far worse.
The Iron Lady certainly had her faults, but seeing things through rose-tinted spectacles was not one of them.
Brian Townsend. Whitehouse, Kirkinch, Meigle.
Since time immemorial
Sir, Re the article, Gender con woman put on probation, in The Courier (April 10) about a woman being charged for dressing up as a boy and having “sexual intimacy” with two girls; where on earth did the authorities dredge up the charge: “Obtaining sexual intimacy by fraud”?
Men have been indulging in this behaviour ever since Adam’s day ie pretending to be rich or famous, or having a good job, pretending to be single, or in love or a great lover, to obtain sexual favours.
Are our jails now going to be filled to overflowing with all these fraudsters?
Bryan Malone. 3 Panbride Place, Carnoustie.