Sir, It is indeed depressing to learn of the (inevitable) withdrawal of the London City service from Dundee Airport, especially given the ongoing upbeat assessment of the V&A effect on Dundee’s economic re-generation.
The loss of this link will pose an access impediment to the viability and attraction of that project among others.
It has always intrigued me that HIAL are often reported to be “working hard” to attract business and facilities to Riverside, consistently without success over the last few years. In fairness, Dundee is neither Highland nor Island and in its present form with a limited 1400-metre runway it is a facility which is hugely restrictive for a five, 10 or even 20-year forward plan to grow and attract traffic.
I have commented previously in this forum that most of the HIAL runways are significantly longer and consequently offer aircraft options.
There are no viable UK facilities which can commercially succeed (outwith heavily subsidised islands) with a projected passenger peak of 150,000 passengers annually which is Dundee’s theoretical capacity maximum.
Together with most Dundonians, I was deeply disappointed at our failure to achieve UK City of Culture status to succeed Londonderry, but when comparing the respective cities’ air facilities it is interesting to note that the distance between Derry and Belfast International is similar to that of Dundee to Edinburgh International; the Derry population is approximately 105,000 yet passenger numbers at Derry climbed from 56,000 in 1997 to almost 400,000 in 2012, Derry of course offers a near 2000- metre runway.
Also, one does wonder what purpose an 11th hour “business survey” by the city council hopes to elucidate given the very clear trajectory and pricing regime of Riverside over the years.
G C Romanowski. 25 Blake Street, Broughty Ferry.
Start withthe basics
Sir, In light of the impending “no flight” to London situation in Dundee I would suggest to HIAL doing the basics first. An early morning return flight to Edinburgh, followed by same to Glasgow, then an Aberdeen/Inverness? I for one would use Dundee much more than I did for the flight to Belfast (before that, too, stopped).
Calum Duncan. 27 Provost Road, Dundee.
How long can this last?
Sir, Like Ian Roache and at least 8000 Dundee United supporters I am delighted to see Dundee United showing signs of becoming a top-flight, honours-chasing team again.
Even more importantly they are doing it by having on show young crowd-pulling talent blended into a unit it is a pleasure to watch and managed by a young manager who himself played and obviously believes in skilful attacking football.
This and, of course, winning games, is the formula for building support as Saturday’s attendance of 8000-plus proved. It would be good for the city of Dundee for United to be back among the trophies again, like they were in the Jim McLean era in particular . . . especially as they could be joined by Dundee FC in the Premier League as from next season.
But isn’t there always a “but”? there is one problem. How long the emerging talent and the manager can be kept at Tannadice.
English football is awash with money as is some parts of Europe and to them spending a few millions is “spare change” whereas to Scottish clubs receiving a few million is a Godsend.
Will United be able to resist transfer offers for their talented young players and manager ? If the answer is “yes” then the 8000 gate could be consistently greater, if not and unless there is an endless supply of replacements the opposite will be the case.
Even as a neutral I know what I would like.
Ian Wheeler. Springfield, Fife.
Why consult with Spain?
Sir, It has been reported that UK Government officials have had meetings with their Spanish counterparts and one of the topics for discussion was next year’s independence referendum.
Any right-minded person would be justified in asking: what on earth has a Scottish independence referendum got to do with Spain?
Are there millions of Spaniards living in Scotland who would be affected?
Or, forgive the cynicism, could it be that with its own separatist problems in Catalonia, the UK and Spanish governments are collaborating to make an independent Scotland’s entry into the EU as difficult as possible in order to send a message to any other separatist group in Spain?
Surely not? I find it hard to believe that the UK government could possibly be so spiteful to Scotland and that Spain would be a party in an attempt to subvert Scottish democracy.
After all, it’s not as though Westminster tried to hide the McCrone Report and other economic forecasts that painted Scotland in a positive light.
RMF Brown. Hill Terrace, Markinch.
City Hall idea
Sir, Should Perth City Hall be demolished, and taking note of the computer generated photograph of the proposed new look, providing the masonry was acceptable could it not be sliced and recycled to form the paving for the new square?
Jim Bowie. Hilltops, Wolfhill.