Interactive: Bus lane would only squander taxpayers' cash

Published on Friday 6 November 2009 10:07

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I WRITE after reading the article regarding the 750,000 segregated bus lane at Cameron Toll (News, 4 November).

Let's be clear about this. The bus lane at a cost of 750,000 will only serve to miss out one set of lights at the roundabout, an estimated saving of 20 seconds on a bus journey and there will no extra lane provided for other traffic. It is disgraceful that the council should try to pretend it is anything else.

What is particularly shocking about this project is that the council themselves spent thousands of pounds on a report by Halcrow in 2007 to assess the benefits of the various schemes.

On the first page of the summary of that report it states: "The study concluded that segregated guided and unguided busways were not justified given the limited amount of current funding available."

It is unbelievable that, especially at this time of financial turmoil and shortfalls, the council should be intending to spend this 750,000 when its own commissioned report states it is not worth the expenditure.

It is most encouraging that Councillor Ian Murray and other councillors for the area have identified the huge waste of public money if this scheme should be allowed to go ahead.

We can only hope that they are able to put enough pressure on the transport committee to get the council to amend or drop this scheme with its pointless squandering of public money.

Dougie Barnett, Chair, Bridgend Cottages Residents Committee, Old Dalkeith Road Edinburgh

Great scientist was a generous man

YOUR tribute to Sir John Crofton, the pioneer of the cure for TB, (News, 5 November) was richly deserved.

When I started work at Shelter in 1993 I inherited a piece of work from my predecessor. It was a report on health and housing and it was being written by someone called John Crofton (I think he was proud of but didn't show off his knighthood). Being, at that point, shamefully ignorant of medical history, the name did not ring with me and we continued to work together for a few months, occasionally gently sparring about this or that conclusion.

It was only much later that I mentioned the work to my uncle, himself a retired GP in the city, to be told unequivocally that I was working with one of the giants of the twentieth century. Yet, how typical of John that he should never have mentioned his past achievements and that he should still have been out there campaigning even at that time, when he was 81 years old.

Over the succeeding years I met with John on several occasions to get his advice. Not content with being one of the great scientists of the last 100 years he was also one of the nicest, warmest and most generous people I have ever met.

I hope Edinburgh pays due tribute in this, his adopted home.

Gavin Corbett, Briarbank Terrace, Edinburgh

Bilingual idea is a sign of prudence

YOUR front page on 3 November claimed that bilingual English and Gaelic road signs would be a waste of time. Your comment went on to claim that such signs are an irrelevance in Edinburgh, where only one per cent of the population are Gaelic speakers. You even use the claim that such signs could be confusing and dangerous to motorists.

Road signs do need to be replaced periodically and I would argue that the council taking that opportunity to put bilingual signs in place would show great financial prudence indeed.

If only one per cent of the population of Edinburgh speak Gaelic, then that is testimony to the way our national language has been treated. Bilingual signs would encourage others to learn the language and help preserve it.

Leslie John Thomson, Moredunvale Green, Edinburgh

Council doing duty regarding Gaelic

THE council has a statutory requirement to produce a Gaelic Language Plan for Edinburgh and an obligation to promote the language under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005.

Thus the council is consulting on a draft five-year plan outlining possible ways in which the use of the language could become more visible across the city.

There is no new scheme about to be implemented. We want to hear from the people on Edinburgh on how important, or otherwise, they feel maintaining the link to the country's national language is. Those views will inform the final report.

Councillor Whyte's comments are slightly mischievous in asking why we would look at this when we're facing a difficult budget period.

The report clearly states that we are legally obliged to do this, that there is no budget proposed for the implementation of the plan and that any costs would have to be contained within existing budgets – maximising partnership opportunities to deliver desired outcomes.

I believe it is important that Scotland's capital city plays a full part in promoting Gaelic.

Cllr Jenny Dawe, Leader, Edinburgh City Council

Royal Mail delivers hope with stamps

WHILE Royal Mail seems to be consumed in a totally unwarranted industrial action, how refreshing to see that one arm, at least, is meeting the users' requests by issuing Christian-themed Christmas stamps this year. There is hope.

Colin C Maclean, Hillpark Avenue, Edinburgh