Letters page

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Importance of proposed bypass

SIR, – There has been much correspondence for and against the proposed Aberdeen bypass. I would ask those who object to this route to consider those of us who live north of Aberdeen.

Thanks to Dr Beeching and various councils, the major thrust of transport schemes has been to close and with unprecedented speed remove the Buchan railway line, thereby preventing it being used for transport during the oil boom of the 1970s, and since.

Further initiatives during the past four decades, have funnelled traffic into Aberdeen, and have promoted road and car transport to the point where it is today away from user-friendly public transport.

It will take political will, and a similar period of time, to reverse this. In the meantime, if we are to have any relief from this situation, we desperately need the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and the reopening of the Buchan railway from Aberdeen to Fraserburgh.

Andrew Clubb,

Shieldaig,

Ythanbank,

Ellon.

Transport infrastructure

SIR, – Years ago, while national and local government were busy worshipping at the altar of the mighty road lobby, British Railways lifted the tracks from Fraserburgh and Peterhead. Today, we have heavy loads travelling on unsuitable roads and thousands of passengers enduring a journey on a bus that has been cascaded down from other regions.

A few years ago, new single-deck buses arrived to provide what is now called the Buchan Link, and they were pleasant. Passenger numbers appeared to increase, but the service frequency did not. Now, many of those coaches are being transferred to other services and replaced with double-deck buses that are uncomfortable and do not cater for passengers with luggage, or who are larger than a size zero.

There is no choice on these routes, other than the private car, to which many people do not have access. FirstBus stopped its competition on the Ellon route with the present service provider, and the railway route has been converted to a cycle track for a few people each year. Apparently, this cannot be converted back to provide a light railway that would provide a better service for thousands of commuters. Is this called forward planning?

People on one of the many transport committees should ask current and potential passengers what they want from the transport providers, and then go about arranging it.

M. Hardy-Randall,

School Crescent,

Newburgh.

Calculating carbon emissions

SIR, – Alistair Rodger (Letters, October 11) stressed the need to cut carbon emissions.

He didn’t say if targets for 2020 of “developed economies” tot up just domestic emissions.

What about the carbon emissions of the developed economies involved in military actions in other countries?

Do the UK and US include in their targets all sorts of military emissions, both of weapons and transport?

Or are all the carbon emissions that come about from conflicts counted as “domestic” for, say, Iraq and Afghanistan?

As well as knowing the cost of war in pounds and dollars, we can perhaps be told the “cost” in carbon emissions.

Ellis Thorpe,

Albany,

Old Chapel Walk,

Inverurie.

Fisheries management

SIR, – I must take issue with your reporting (the Press and Journal, October 10) of my speech to the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation.

In particular, the claim that I intend to set up an inquiry to draw up proposals for future fisheries management “under Europe’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)” is plain wrong.

The discredited CFP does not serve Scotland’s interests and therefore the inquiry will look at alternative fisheries management arrangements which best suit Scotland’s circumstances.

Richard Lochhead,

cabinet secretary for rural affairs and the environment,

The Scottish Parliament,

Edinburgh.

History of Gaelic in Caithness

SIR, – Recently, there has been a debate as to whether or not Gaelic was ever spoken in Caithness. I hope that the following information may help to inform that debate. In a leaflet on the Caithness dialect published by John Geddes, Caithness Spoken: A Selection of Old Caithness Words and Expressions, a large number of the words are of Gaelic origin.

While interviewing Gaelic speakers in the neighbouring county of Sutherland, I spoke to informants who, during their lifetimes, had met and conversed with native speakers of Caithness Gaelic from Reay, Dunbeath and Latheron.

The Linguistic Survey of Scotland, based at Edinburgh University, recorded a native speaker of Caithness Gaelic from the Braemore area in the 1950s. His Gaelic is recorded in the Survey of the Dialects of Scotland, published in 1997.

Looking at a map of Caithness, over half of the land area is covered in place names of Gaelic origin.

To deny that Gaelic was ever spoken in Caithness is to fly in the face of the evidence.

Dr James H. Grant,

Coille Ghiuthais,

Rothiemurchus,

Aviemore.

Sale of carriages by council

SIR, – It is quite astonishing that Aberdeen City Council should elect to sell off part of the city’s heritage in the form of some Victorian horse-drawn carriages at a knockdown price for a few thousand pounds at the Thainstone roup, raising not even enough to feed a councillor for a year in the restaurant at the Town House (the Press and Journal, October 11).

Perhaps they should consider also selling the contents of the art gallery and the Maritime Museum if they consider that such items are of insignificant value and not an important part of the city's history.

This desperation to sell off assets at knockdown prices devalues the council itself.

Dennis Grattan,

3 Mugiemoss Road,

Bucksburn, Aberdeen.