Letter: Easily impressed?

You report (4 November) that top planner Jim Mackinnon said with regard to the proposed green belt development: "I was very impressed with the passion and sincerity with which Sir David spoke and his determination to carry out a development that would leave a lasting legacy."

So were Fife Council's officials when in September 2001 they leased the 42-acre Pitreavie Playing Fields for 60 years to Vida Sports, a company belonging to Carnegie Sport & Hospitality, part of the Murray International Group, for a peppercorn rent of 238 per acre per annum.

Despite Sir David's promises of a long-term commitment that would involve investing millions and creating a lasting legacy for the people of Dunfermline, two years later Vida Sports - which had a dozen other long-term leases on similar playing fields owned by other councils - was sold for 30 million in a management buy-out.

The new owners failed in 2005 and Vida was placed in administration.

Beware developers bearing gifts, even ones with grand titles and apparently grander designs!

Tom Minogue

Victoria Terrace

Dunfermline

What Scotland's chief planner has backed (your report, 4 November) is a series of varied approaches to the engagement of citizens in planning, as public involvement is one of the lynchpins of our new planning system.

There is no endorsement of the end product implied by support for innovative engagement processes at west Edinburgh or anywhere else. This attack on Jim Mackinnon is lamentable.

Michaela Sullivan

Morham Lea

Edinburgh