Business case for costly city trams project lying in tatters

This against a background of a council already facing a massive deficit in its overall finances, and a programme of significant cost-cutting in its services elsewhere.

It is further only able to stimulate some of the "proposed" developments along the route by significantly reducing the levy expectations from the developers themselves.

The business case, which as a professional adviser I am accustomed to assessing myself for purposes of funding awards, was seriously flawed in its assumptions in the first place, and now surely lies in tatters with its authors seriously discredited.

It appears that the negotiation of the terms of tender(s) connected with this project have been managed by "our" council with the same ineptitude that characterised the proposed award of care contracts which resulted in so much distress for the most vulnerable of the city's residents.

Surely the payers of council tax, who ultimately will be responsible for picking up whatever is the final bill for this council vanity project, deserve to have chair of TIE David Mackay come out and explain publicly and with absolute clarity what he means by "achieving the best possible outcome"?

David Williamson, Haddington Place, Edinburgh

SNP behind call for tram woes report

I REFER to the article on trams which boasted the headline "Dawe calls for public report into tram woes" (News, 12 March).

For the record, I called for the report on behalf of the SNP group on the council and Jenny Dawe acceded.

We in the SNP agree with your editorial of that date, namely "it is time for a full public disclosure on all the facts about the trams project". Hopefully now we will get just that!

The SNP group tried in vain to stop this ill-conceived tram project in its tracks. Councillors from the other four parties on the council that supported it are in for some sleepless nights.

Councillor Steven Cardownie, Deputy Leader, Edinburgh City Council

Evil of smoking harms all of us

I HOPE Brian Monteith will follow the small amount of logic in his rant on pubs and smoking (News, 11 March).

He agrees that drinking at home is the real cause of small pubs closing, so he should support the Scottish Government proposal for a minimum price per unit of alcohol.

Cheap alcohol only benefits supermarkets. It also harms heavy drinkers of cheap lager, cider and vodka. But smoking harms all of us!

Chris Wigglesworth, Tollcross, Edinburgh

Face-to-face vital for raising funds

IT WAS concerning to read of the criticism of face-to-face fundraising (News, 10 March).

As you correctly highlighted in your article, this form of fundraising is regulated using our Face-to-Face Activity Code of Practice and adherence to this is vital in maintaining public confidence in the work of charities.

The code makes clear what is and is not acceptable in terms of approaching the public. I'd encourage anyone who suspects a breach of these to make a formal complaint.

I'd emphasise that face-to-face fundraising is an absolutely vital part of the fundraising mix for many charities and their beneficiaries.

It is very cost-effective; otherwise charities would not use it as a method.

It helps us secure continuing support for our beneficiaries and it allows us to capture a range of donors that do not respond as well, if at all, to other methods of contact.

Millions of beneficiaries across Scotland rely on the work of all types of fundraisers.

The need to fundraise is now very real when beneficiaries are some of the worst affected by a struggling economy.

Let's not attack this method when this need is greater than ever.

Mafe Marwick, chair, Institute of Fundraising Scotland