Letter: Time for openness

If the case made by Edinburgh culture leader Councillor Deidre Brock for a retail development in the much loved Assembly Rooms is so compelling, why is it only now being circulated?

The suspicion remains that the council has stitched together yet another unsuitable commercial venture, such as the New Street hotel development, which is inappropriate and unworkable.

If the council was more open and genuinely consultative about planning matters, perhaps the public would trust them more; instead, we get secretive, last-minute deals to push through controversial proposals.

If the Assembly Rooms are in need of refurbishment, why can the council not simply fix the problems with public money and leave the building as it is?

Installing shops because they were once there is like saying flooding is OK in Princes Street Gardens because there used to be a loch there; it's not necessarily a good thing.

BRUCE WHITEHEAD

Hillwood Place

South Queensferry