SIR, – The all too predictable reaction from Alan Reid, MP for Argyll and Bute, to the rise in fares announced by the Scottish Government for west-coast ferry services (Press and Journal, March 10) demonstrates once more just how far this gentleman is, and has been, from the reins of responsible government for his entire political career.
The suggestion that these increases are being used to subsidise particular constituencies favoured by the Government is so ludicrous as to defy reasoned argument. The RET (road equivalent tariff) trial is one, it is hoped, that will eventually extend to the entire ferry network.
Will Alan Reid oppose it then? Will he be in a position to do that? He predicted dire consequences for other routes last season when it was introduced and these proved to be wholly groundless.
Only the most isolated can fail to see that, in hard economic times, a degree of rigour and responsibility has to be demonstrated in the delivery of services. To pretend otherwise is to be in denial. The ferry increases are above the level of inflation but do not affect multi-journey tickets, which most islanders use, and commercial vehicles and coaches are to be exempt from the changes. The local island and peninsular economies are being safeguarded. Nobody wants to pay more than is necessary, but to suggest at every turn that the burden should fall elsewhere is both unrealistic and dishonest.
Kenneth MacColl,
Alexandra Place,
Corran Esplanade,
Oban.
SIR, – I noted with interest in the Press and Journal (March 11) that Renewable Energy Systems (RES) has secured a finance deal and intends to start building a 21-turbine windfarm at Hill of Towie next summer.
As was pointed out in your report, this is despite Moray Council rejecting the plan. Only when the Scottish Government intervened was it pushed through. Truly a case of Big Brother politics, it has to be said.
What concerns me is that it was only a week ago that another headline in the Press and Journal read “Lack of wind a blow for turbines’ power output”. In a nutshell, a prolonged high-pressure system over Scotland had reduced the total wind-turbine output in Scotland to such a low figure that it was barely enough to boil 1,000 kettles.
Now the spin doctors linked to RES claim that the Hill of Towie windfarm could provide energy to about 26,000 homes. Is that the total energy needed per household for the whole year or perhaps one light bulb per home for one hour a day on every alternate Wednesday? Make your own mind up.
Chris Davis,
Maryhill, Orton,
Fochabers.
SIR, – Former Marine Roddy Campbell deserves 100% support from all of us, not only his ex-service comrades, for his stand against medals for MPs (Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme).
Ex-servicemen and women are awarded medals, whether for gallantry, campaigns or long service, for risking their lives or severe disablement in the service of their country, and to them, they are very special. To equate this in any way with some of our elected representatives showboating for an hour or two in a conflict zone is a gross insult to their betters.
A large proportion of our MPs have been caught recently with their snouts in the trough, and some are facing criminal proceedings. They have disgraced politics, and it is entirely in keeping that some should now be seeking honours to which they have no moral entitlement. To say that the medals they have awarded themselves have nothing to do with the Ministry of Defence is simply more of the cynical political casuistry to which we have been accustomed in recent years.
What will it take to bring home to MPs in general that they have discredited themselves; that they have lost the trust of the electorate, and that the only way they can reinstate that trust is to work hard and lie very low for a long time to come?
John Duff,
The Granary,
Cluniebank Road, Braemar.
SIR, – I have just read the article regarding The Robert Gordon University expansion plan (Press and Journal, March 12) which is due to go before the city council’s enterprise, planning and infrastructure committee next Thursday. I urge committee members to vote against the plan in the interests of the local residents.
I am a resident of Westerton Road. We suffer constantly from high traffic volumes, and an extra 1,050 parking spaces at RGU will mean many more cars every day on rat runs such as Westerton Road, Pitfodels Station Road and Inchgarth Road, which are used by drivers wishing to reach Garthdee from North Deeside Road.
I have spoken to the consultants who performed the RGU traffic-impact study and can confirm that the study only considered whether the junctions of these roads with North Deeside and Inchgarth Roads would be able to cope with the increase in volume. It did not consider the impact of the increased traffic on the residents living on these already overloaded roads.
The “Green Travel Plan” is a red herring – the important issue is the extra 1,050 cars which potentially will be travelling to and from RGU on a daily basis.
Dr Shan Parfitt,
Westerton Road,
Aberdeen.
SIR, – The Press and Journal reports (March 11) that three expensive managers may be appointed by Highland Council for what seem to be rather broad objectives – to enable older people’s aspirations to be addressed.
I am sure that there are very many older, likely retired, people with managerial and social-care backgrounds who would gladly seize the opportunity to “plan, fund, organise and operate activities aspired to” by their age-group, and would do a great job without needing anywhere near £150,000 per annum. Has the council considered this?
In any event, the remit would seem to need a touch of sharpening up.
Joe Darby,
Glenburn, St Martins Mill,
Cullicudden, Dingwall.