Sir, Iain Gulland’s column (Our attitude to litter needs to change) should be a wake-up call to all those who live in Scotland and who appreciate the natural scenic beauty this country has to offer.
Our landscape is an asset with the potential to attract tourists from all over the world unfortunately it’s becoming a scarred asset.
I recently had visitors from abroad. For many years it had been their dream to visit Scotland to see the scenic beauty frequently portrayed in pictures, films and adverts. Sadly, they discovered that imagery and reality can sometimes be two different things.
From the start they were confronted with a Scotland laid waste to litter. As they made their way from the airport to our home they were surprised at the volume of litter all along the motorway.
I, of course, wanted to show them Scotland at its best and we visited many scenic areas along the coast, in the Highlands, as well as our own city of Dundee.
Wherever we went we were faced with litter bins either overflowing or, worse, totally neglected with litter discarded carelessly on pavements and roadways.
On numerous occasions whilst waiting in traffic queues we observed vehicles ahead opening windows and dumping fast food containers onto the verges. Our visitors were shocked by the total disregard for our environment and felt let down. I doubt they will return and unfortunately they will likely dissuade others from visiting here.
Following their visit I realised that we’ve become a nation that is desensitised to the amount of litter and littering that goes on here. Until our guests pointed it out I had turned a blind eye to all the irresponsible dumping going on. Now I see it for what it is and I’m ashamed.
If we don’t start taking it seriously, soon, it will really become a major problem.
Bill Davis. The Coach House, Reres Road, Broughty Ferry.
Local “roadies” knew best
Sir, Your excellent articles on poor drainage and maintenance (January 17), only go part of the way to explaining why flooding is happening so often.
The EU Water Framework Directive is a seriously flawed piece of legislation that needs to be re-examined and probably thrown out if there is ever going to be a return to a common sense approach to dealing with land drainage.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of other issues that also need to be dealt with if flooding is to be avoided in the future and these include regular clearing of the ditches and drainage arrangements that run (or don’t run in many cases) alongside our roads.
In the past local roadmen would be fully aware of where problems were likely to occur and take action to ensure that surface water was quickly directed off the roads into these ditches and drainage gulleys, thus avoiding water damage to the road surface.
These roadmen would also cut offlets to direct water off the road surface, cut back overgrown verges and remove any blockages to keep the road surface as dry as possible in the event of a sudden deluge.
Today, we see lots of vehicles and workers around the road networks but they appear to lack the intimate knowledge of the areas in which they are working. Maybe the time has come to re-discover local roadmen.
The only answer is a programme of regular planned maintenance to avoid future flooding and restore some confidence in the organisations that are responsible local councils, SEPA, Transport Scotland and Scottish Water.
Colin Young. Meadowland, Dunning.
Missed point about turbines
Sir, Councillor Beare’s political attack on his fellow councillor (Courier, January 14), completely missed the point about local democracy and wind turbines.
On the whole people don’t want wind turbines because unless they are landowners or developers collecting the 100% subsidy which each unit of wind-generated electricity earns, they can only see how turbines blight people’s quality of life, property values and tourism.
This is a massive problem for Councillor Beare’s leader Alex Salmond whose blind devotion to these monstrosities causes central government to override local planning democracy to an unprecedented degree.
It is also a problem for Councillor Beare who as Chair of Fife’s Central Planning Committee under the previous administration championed wind farms against the wishes of local area committees. Might this be one reason why the SNP failed to secure a majority in the last Fife Council elections?
Linda Holt. Dreel House, Pittenweem.
Grand building
Sir, I read about Dundee High School purchasing the old Head Post Office in Euclid Crescent. As a post office worker for over 24 years I worked there during the 70s up to the mid-90s. I loved working in such a grand building which reflected the importance of the Post Office at that time.
I never ever saw it as a nightclub and I’m sure Dundee High will do the building justice with their refurbishments and hopefully I may see the end result.
Brian Millar. Blackness Avenue, Dundee.