Down the drain?

Your report on the overspend on the first phase of the Water of Leith flood prevention works (30 April) only told a third of the story. With two more phases to come, costed at £36 million and £30m respectively, we are heading for £100m in an effort to protect 500 houses from flooding once every 100 years.

That’s £200,000 per house, with quite a few of the more recently built riverside properties having a design life of less than 50 years. Independent of the doubtful efficacy of the flood prevention works, we should be asking whether this amount of subsidy for houses built in known flood plains is an appropriate use of scarce public funds.

Harald Tobermann

Pilrig Street

Edinburgh