Sir, – The planning authorities in Fife exhibit an incredible lack of vision.
Considering the problems with Madras College, St Andrews, the solution is to build a secondary school at Taybridgehead.
Schools are underused. They should be available for evening adult education and social activities.
Tayport is in the process of acquiring a community centre for which funds will be made available. This money should be incorporated into a Taybridgehead secondary in such a way that community services can be provided.
The school would also solve the problem of pupils currently attending Madras who cannot participate in out-of-hours school activities.
The predicted roll of Madras College is 1,600. Buses transport around 850 pupils to Madras, mainly from the Newport/Tayport area.
The establishment of a Taybridgehead secondary school could cut the cost of school buses by about £500,000 per annum. The money saved could, for example, prevent the closure of libraries in Fife.
The fact that the school population of the Newport/Tayport area will significantly increase in future years appears to have been ignored.
This will require more school buses. Quite apart from the cost, there is the question of CO2 production which, under law, Fife Council is obliged to reduce.
The desirability of large schools with 1,600 pupils is open to question.
Smaller schools have a more friendly atmosphere and, in most cases, produce superior results.
If the above proposals were implemented, Madras College, South Street, could be renovated. It would be sufficiently large to cater for local pupils. There would be little need for school buses, which are a frequent source of complaint by residents of St Andrews.
Dr EG Duncan. 8 Greenside Place, St Andrews.
Lack of ambition for Perth centre
Sir, – Having read your article (December 16) about the proposed development of Thimblerow in Perth, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
If this is the best that a competition of eight developers can come up with, then I suggest Perth and Kinross Council acquaints itself with the definition of ambitious.
Perth already has a good cinema. I can think of four gymnasiums within easy walking distance of the city centre and why on earth student accommodation when the college and schools are miles away?
The big-brand names mentioned are already represented in the city and if they are an indication of what we can expect in the Mill Street Quarter, there would appear to be little to encourage visitors or residents.
Peter Francis. 5d Barossa Place, Perth.
Rhyme too good for McGonagall
Sir, – I enjoyed Rod Wallace’s stanza on the Forth Road Bridge (December 14) but would suggest that it is not really in the style of William McGonagall in that it gets many things conventionally right.
Its 16, 11, 12, 16 syllable lines are basically regular.
The last six syllables of each line all have a similar stress pattern and so tie the stanza together very well.
The long word “queued” in the last line is very well chosen and positioned to produce just the right effect.
On a separate matter, having read another letter from Rev Dr John Cameron, this time on Donald Trump, I found myself thinking that on the evidence of his correspondence, Dr Cameron shares many characteristics with Mr Trump.
Both are unremitting in publicising their opinions which they hold with supreme self-confidence.
I would suggest that Dr Cameron’s Trump-like approach reduces both the credibility of his own arguments and the constructive flow of discussion.
This is always a pity, the more so as he sometimes puts forward original and thought-provoking ideas.
Gordon Dilworth. 20 Baledmund Road, Moulin, Pitlochry.
Power line costs were double
Sir, – You report (December 21) Scottish Power saying that the Beauly Denny transmission line was delivered “on time and on budget”.
At public inquiry, this line was estimated to cost £330 million.
The industry regulator, Ofgem, says the cost of construction currently stands at just over £820m.
Helen McDade. Head of Policy, John Muir Trust Tower House, Station Road, Pitlochry.
Critic wrong on Snowman
Sir, – Your music critic Garry Fraser should go to a different concert if he feels the Snowman concert is too predictable.
I was there on Friday night at Caird Hall, Dundee, along with another two adults and two children.
The children were engrossed from start to finish and they have been there before.
The adults found the music and Georgie Glen a delight. You could hear her every word and we voted her the best narrator to date.
The Snowman is primarily for children and there were certainly many there on Friday night.
I think Mr Fraser is probably now too old for the Snowman.
S. Cruickshank. 52 Monifieth Road, Broughty Ferry.
Health staff must show example
Sir, – How welcome to hear that at last the obesity epidemic among health workers has been recognised.
A university campus has introduced exercise lessons as alarming figures show that more than two thirds of nurses are overweight or obese.
This drastic move has been brought in after adult nursing lecturers at the University of West Scotland became concerned that health staff were not practising what they preach.
My own recent experiences in hospital and clinic confirmed these suspicions. Health professionals should be prepared to lead by example, if only to have their own recommendations on health care taken seriously.
George Cormack. McLauclan Risem,, Aberdour.
An insult to our intelligence
Sir, – In his logic-defying letter (December 19) supporting the previous wild claims by the spokesperson for Stop Climate Chaos, it is obvious that Walter Attwood is neither a meteorologist nor a scientist.
The starting point for the current scaremongering was the decades old and still unsubstantiated theory, and I stress the word theory, which postulated that increasing carbon dioxide would result in an increase in global temperatures.
Exactly how this theory, that word again, morphed into blaming increased carbon emissions for every extreme weather event has no scientific basis and is wholly unexplained, not to mention unbelievable.
This is particularly so when the incidence of such extreme events is not increasing.
The final insult to our intelligence is the inherent assumption that politicians, aided and encouraged by green pressure groups, can influence the climate.
Dr GM Lindsay. Whinfield Gardens, Kinross.
Lack of SNP leadership
Sir, – After all the rhetoric from the SNP on their desire to create a fairer Scotland and independence being a chance to rid us from Tory governments, John Swinney’s budget was always going to be a test. He failed.
Instead of taking Scotland down a different path, the SNP now have virtually the same tax policy as the Tories in Scotland.
The easy thing to do would have been to end the council tax freeze as it is an inequitable policy which has made the rich richer. Swinney failed to meet that challenge.
Raising income tax was going to be difficult as the new powers he has are quite crude when compared to what will come when the Scotland Bill is enacted.
However, government is about leadership and Mr Swinney should have at least had Scotland consider the benefit of increasing income tax and channelling money directly to where it is needed most.
Dr Scott Arthur. 27 Buckstone Gardens, Edinburgh.