Sir, Friday’s Courier highlighted the many local problems facing Perth and Kinross Council.
They are being criticised for their plan for new access roads that will take over a large part of the grounds of St. Johnstone FC. They seem not at all concerned about the future of their local club.
Perth Harbour is portrayed as coming to the end of its working life with few ships using it. It could be rescued by private ownership, but councillors have rejected this option as they think they can run it better.
Now we have their proposal to merge the highly successful Live Active Live with the “less than financially viable” Horsecross.
What makes councillors imagine that they are so successful at operating businesses?
LAL has been successful simply because it has been managed by local business people with the council kept at “arm’s length”.
Perth and Kinross Council need to prove to the public that a merged operation could be more financially successful!
For instance, how much has Horsecross lost since it first started operating including the recent “black hole” in their finances!
If the council are so successful at running local businesses, why did they take the decision to close Perth City Hall all these years ago.
It could have stayed open to this day for the 80% of events that could not afford to move to the Concert Hall.
Robin Valentine. 3 Burnbank, Bridge of Earn.
Car park: why all the fuss?
Sir, With regard to the lead article in Monday’s Courier, Drivers boycott Perth car park, that should have been prefixed by the word ‘some’. The charges have not gone up as I expected, apart from the evenings and the Sunday charge. So, the only difference is that you now key your registration number into the machine.
I found the comments of Elspeth MacLachlan quite funny as she informs us that she has an honours degree and two post graduate qualifications but still cannot understand how to key her registration number into the machine.
Then Kay Brown comes along to inform us that she saw “several elderly people struggling to enter their registration numbers”. She also tells us that she saw many people having to go back upstairs to remind themselves of their registration number.
Should those people still be driving if they do not even know the registration number of their own car? Would they remember on which floor they had left their car to start with? You do have the choice of nine after all. I am in my late 70s and after the first two visits I had no problem with the new set-up whatsoever.
Jack Alexander. 2 Stormont Way, Scone, Perth.
No cancelling of projects
Sir, In Tuesday’s Courier, responding to the Conservatives’ proposal for free off-street parking on Saturdays, Councillor Ian Miller said that the cost of free parking would have to be paid for by cancelling infrastructure projects.
I would have thought that Councillor Miller, as leader of the P&K Council, would know that the car park trading account is nothing to do with the funding of Perth and Kinross infrastructure projects, which are currently budgeted at some £58 million, this is paid for by borrowing money.
Incidentally, if Perth and Kinross received the same generous financial treatment as Dundee City Council does from the Scottish Government, a substantial amount of the £58 million would be funded by them at a saving to the people of Perth and Kinross.
Councillor Mac Roberts. Conservative Group Leader, Ward 1, Carse of Gowrie.
At the mercy of the wind
Sir, The huge coal-fired power station at Longannet has for 40 years produced a net output of 2,300MW of electricity enough to power two million of Scotland’s 2.3 million homes.
A major overhaul improving efficiency meant it could play a “pivotal role” in providing safe, secure and inexpensive energy far into the future – but now it is threatened with closure. The other major 24/7 generators are the aging Hunterston and Torness nuclear stations which the SNP promise not to replace leaving Scotland at the mercy of intermittent wind power.
Without a trace of irony Nicola Sturgeon demands Westminster secure Scotland’s electricity supplies: which says all that needs to be said about the Saudi Arabia of renewables.
Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
Get ready for the change
Sir, From April, all retailers in Dundee including the smallest corner shops and newsagents will be banned from displaying cigarettes and other tobacco products to customers. This is, therefore, the time to get ready for this change. Business owners may want to install a tobacco display screen and should train staff on the new laws.
Good advice about keeping on the right side of the law can be found easily online. While the FSB will be urging the authorities to adopt a lenient approach as the new rules bed down, we must not see local firms facing prosecution or a fine.
Graham Bradley. Chair of the Dundee and Angus branch, Federation of Small Businesses.