Keep an eye on the skyline of city please

Iconic views of Edinburgh's coast from its hills and from the New Town are now being spoiled by the eyesores in the Waterfront.

Rather than implementing a Skyline Policy, which allows for high-rise buildings (and therefore assumes the council will make good architectural decisions), we should call for a moratorium on this relentless push to develop at any price until the new City Local Plan can properly consider the issue.

The upwards and skywards push is not about quality, it is about maximising developers' profits and cramming homes in. Edinburgh has no history of tall buildings success - where is the evidence that the council can deliver a pseudo-Manhattan skyline, assuming we wanted one?

Can we not just enjoy Edinburgh as it is, and make the most of its unique built heritage? I love modernist, exciting high-rise architecture - but not in the wrong context.

Edinburgh is a world-class city (with a bit more maintenance and core service provision) - we don't need any more monuments (or follies) to architectural and planning arrogance.

Kristina Woolnough, Independent candidate in the Inverleith Ward, Craigleith View, Edinburgh

Cost-free doesn't make plan valuable

WHAT an extraordinary viewpoint is promoted by Graham Birse in his letter (April 6). Edinburgh's commercial interests are ill served by blind obeisance to carpetbagging businessmen.

It would be interesting if Mr Birse were to share with us his understanding of the difference between legitimate objection and hardened protest. I suspect that the latter is any that he disapproves of.

It is unsurprising that Scottish Executive bureaucrats are bowled over by the Mountgrange "consultation". It is cost-free to the public purse, being funded entirely by the developer who supplies the brief and has control of the process. It is about as disinterested as a free survey by a dry rot treatment salesman.

The "Masterplan" the development complies with was commissioned and drafted to a brief prepared by the developer. Councillor Cairns, when he wrote his article on the unacceptability of the breakthrough in the Canongate facade, stated it was supported by the planning committee, not the full council.

Edinburgh's unique selling point is its image as an historic city. It is famous for its culture and heritage. That heritage has been diluted severely by the perverse decisions of our planners in the recent past. The time has come to draw a line in the sand and say "so far and no further". Far from being economic suicide, deterring inward investment, this would stimulate it as those investors see us protecting our brand.

Ken Smillie, Jackson's Close, Edinburgh

Investment is seen as most important

SIR Bernard Crick's accusation that Labour is too close to developers hits the nail on the head (Evening News, April 9). I have been arguing for some time that what unites Caltongate, Grassmarket, Glenogle Baths, Meadowbank and other projects is not what the proposals look like, some parts of some of which are worth looking at; but who gets to decide.

Developers, of course, have many sensible ideas but, time after time, it seems that the view - and especially the view of Councillor Trevor Davies - is that the promise of investment entitles the developer to override the views of the local community who have to live with what is produced for decades to follow. I don't think any of us is rash enough to predict a future Edinburgh which is free of controversy over development.

But I'd like to think we can chart a future where the views of various competing interests are at least more evenly balanced.

Gavin Corbett, co-convener of Edinburgh Greens and City Centre Candidate, Lyne Street, Edinburgh

SNP trams stance won't win my vote

AS an ex-SNP member and voter, but still sympathetic to the SNP, I am appalled that Steve Cardownie still opposes the trams (News, April 10).

The SNP pledge to cancel the disastrous EARL scheme, and I applaud them for this, but they say that they would provide an alternative rail access to the airport. Since the trams will do just that, their position is illogical and stupid.

Only the Greens take a sensible view of opposition to EARL and support for the trams.

The trams will provide enormous environmental and economic benefits, repeated regularly in your columns.

Glasgow Crossrail, which would cost a fraction of EARL, will connect most of Scotland to both Glasgow and Prestwick Airports. With the trams, EARL becomes redundant, as well as an environmental nightmare.

I need a pledge from the SNP that they will not cancel the trams at this late stage before I contemplate giving them my constituency and council vote. The real numpties are those supporting EARL and opposing trams.

Douglas G Smart, Bellfield Avenue, Musselburgh

Taxi map test is not rocket science

T MILLIGAN accuses the private hire car drivers of "theft" (Your Views, April 4). He/she obviously regards any potential passenger as the sole property of the black taxi trade. What a ridiculous assumption to make! Has it escaped the correspondent that it is entirely up to the passenger which mode of transport takes preference, be it a private hire car, a black cab or even an early morning milk float?

As a black cab driver for some 15 years, I can vouch for the fact that I had a lot more fares "stolen" by ill-mannered and unscrupulous black cab drivers than I ever had by private hire car drivers.

And, the boring drivel about having passed the topographical test being somehow an academic super achievement, belies the facts, also. You don't need to be Einstein to succeed in that test, I myself being living proof of that.

Furthermore, it could be argued that a private hire car driver of let's say two years experience will outclass any newcomer black cabbie in the knowledge of the city by a mile. And we must not forget that new inventions like satellite navigation have all but confined the need for a topographical test to the dustbin.

Maybe it is the sad realisation that the private hire trade appear to be a lot smarter in their approach, by staying outside the restrictive council regulations that apply to and hold back the black cab trade, which makes your correspondent so bitter towards the old foe.

Tony Sedlatschek, Loganlea Drive, Edinburgh

Labour's free gifts are not for all of us

SO Labour are promising free buses (News, April 10) as part of their local manifesto for Edinburgh City Council, with those who buy a yearly Lothian bus pass getting two weeks' free bus travel.

According to leader Ewan Aitken: "These are just some of the ways that Edinburgh Labour will make sure everyone shares in our city's success". Everyone, that is, except for the people of South Queensferry and Kirkliston.

Residents living in these areas are not served by council-owned Lothian Buses, despite us being part of Edinburgh and paying Edinburgh council tax. Now Labour are proposing to use our taxes to subsidise free travel for those who are fortunate enough to be served by Lothian Buses, whilst the hard-pressed commuters of rural west Edinburgh will once again be left short-changed.

Yet another example of Labour's second-class treatment of its citizens in rural west Edinburgh.

Martin Gallagher, Stoneyflatts Crescent, South Queensferry

End of march must be commended

IT was most edifying to see the James Connolly Society will abandon their annual march in Edinburgh (Evening News, April 4).

No-one denies people's right to pay tribute to someone who played a significant role in a country's history.

Sadly these marches can be controversial and divisive for various reasons. Anything that can eradicate the blight of sectarianism has to be welcomed.

KOJ Ramsay, Claverhouse Drive, Edinburgh