Interactive: Price rise worth it if it keeps lucrative event moving on

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Evening News, 108 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8AS

EDINBURGH'S party chiefs are to raise the street party ticket prices and I am quite sure that this decision was not taken lightly (News, 22 June).

Being a supporter of this event for years before it even began, I do not think our city is out pricing itself by putting the costs up to 15 – it costs you that to go into the Castle now.

Many people seem to ignore the amounts of tourists that it brings to our city, and they ignore the fact that it is not just a one-day event. This is an event that has many days of fun going on for the residents and tourists who come to our city for our events.

Hotels, hostels and guest houses have sprung up all over our city, and that has happened because of our festivals and the hospitality that has been built on here.

Do the opponents of these events think the companies that have moved into our city would have done so if there had been nothing here for them? And are they not doing this because our city is worth investing in?

This is the type of trade that our city is good at and we have had to diversify due to a fast-changing world. Many cities in Britain would be quite happy to get just a fraction of the tourist trade that our city gets as they shut what industry they have left and ponder what road to go down so that they can generate and create new work. Edinburgh has to keep one step ahead by trying new events and adjusting the pricing to cover the costs of these events.

Andrew Murphy, Royal Mile, Edinburgh

Council raking it in with parking fees

I WAS parking my car in London Road (visiting the doctor) and went to buy ticket from the pay and display machine. I was planning to stay for no more than half an hour. Imagine my shock to see that this machine would accept nothing less than 3 cash despite also stating that parking tariff was 1 per hour. This strikes me as nothing short of daylight robbery.

The council must be raking it in, either by gouging people with these fees or through penalties given to people who have genuinely paid 1 for an hour's parking, thinking they have done the right thing. Very sneaky!

Stephen Lovell, Hawkhill Avenue, Edinburgh

Don't make city a laughing stock

I CANNOT believe 47 per cent of the residents of Edinburgh think the tramway scheme should be scrapped (News, 24 June), making this city the laughing stock of Europe. I can think of no town which has built half a tramway and then got cold feet.

This is an expensive and contentious project because of bureaucracy, incompetence and lack of political consensus, but construction is not rocket science. Let's get on and finish the first line with, I hope, more to follow.

N Mackenzie, Grange Loan, Edinburgh

Inquiry needed to get all the facts

MALCOLM Chisholm MSP has a cheek to complain about management of the Edinburgh trams project (News, 24 June). The idea originated in the council Labour group. He then voted for it in the Scottish Parliament – along with his Labour, Lib Dem, Conservative and Green Party colleagues. Since then Mr Chisholm has been content to sit on the sidelines as things went pear-shaped and has said very little until now.

I opposed this project from the outset. But since it went off the rails I have tried to shine a light on what has been going on and what can be done in response. However, TIE refuses to allow Bilfinger Berger to speak out. And Audit Scotland has rejected my calls to become involved in a review.

I wrote last week to Green MSP Patrick Harvie, convener of the transport committee in the Parliament. I asked him to consider allowing the committee to investigate the trams project. That would allow all parties to try to get at the facts.

Instead of waiting for others to tidy up the mess he helped create, it behoves Malcolm Chisholm to take responsibility for the consequences of his own vote in Parliament – and to back my call for a parliamentary inquiry.

Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP