Slimmer city

Published on 03/12/2012 00:00

I was interested to read the comments made by justice secretary Kenny MacAskill (your report, 25 November), that there would inevitably have to be some restructuring of Scottish councils and health boards following the re-organisation of the Scottish police into one force.

There would certainly seem to be scope for some radical reorganisation of local authority councils, as the example of Edinburgh shows; the city has 58 councillors who represent some 495,360 people, while Vancouver in Canada has ten councillors and a mayor to represent some 603,000 people (2011 population figures for both).

And, of course, with this small number of councillors, Vancouver managed successfully to host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games.

Additionally, with 68.7km of Skytrain, its rapid transit system in Metro Vancouver, with 47 stations and with trains 95 per cent on time, perhaps we should send ten of our best Edinburgh councillors over there to find out how to run a city council and our transport systems.

Allan Alstead

Moray Place

Edinburgh