Letters: Online shopping to blame for Princes Street demise

Certainly, the creation of 900 jobs is to be welcomed, but Princes Street is rapidly resembling a set of bad teeth, as the last proper retailers either close or relocate to out-of-town shopping centres.

What we are left with are bargain bookshops and purveyors of tourist tat. Politicians are constantly telling us how vital it is to save the "high street", in our case Princes Street, and yet in this debate one of the great "elephants in the room", which few people are prepared to acknowledge, is that one of the reasons Princes Street and other high streets up and down the country look so shoddy is because we (and I'm not exempted from this) are buying more and more of our books, music, clothes and even groceries from internet retailers such as Amazon.

By all means welcome Amazon to Edinburgh if it's going to create jobs, but perhaps we all need to look at the net employment gain/loss caused by our ever-increasing use of virtual shops, and the resulting redundancies following the closure of high street stores.

Is a spanking new office for Amazon really worth an empty Princes Street?

Matthew Preston, South Sloan Street, Edinburgh

Address contract issues right now

TRANSPORT convener Gordon Mackenzie says that the tram contract is "fundamentally flawed and not fit for purpose" (News, May 20).

I have long suspected that poor contract drafting is one reason for the embarrassing management of the tram and the preceding utility works. That this is finally being realised is surely progress.

However, if it can be shown that there is indeed a problem with the contract, this should be addressed immediately, not in "due course", as Cllr Mackenzie suggests. In particular, if bad legal advice has been provided, redress should be sought at the earliest opportunity.

Harald Tobermann, Pilrig Street, Edinburgh

Royal Mile should always look good

NO doubt in anticipation of the Royal Wedding, the Royal Mile is looking quite resplendent and colourful with its regal and heraldic-looking flags.

It's a shame that such a display is not maintained throughout the year since this area of Edinburgh is its most historic and is a magnet for tourists all the year round.

Second only to Princes Street, the Royal Mile is Edinburgh's most famous thoroughfare, and in an age when the competition for tourists becomes fiercer year on year, the council should do whatever it can to ensure that Edinburgh does not miss out on this most lucrative of markets. If that means investing in historical areas such as the Royal Mile, so be it.

Angus McGregor, Albion Road, Edinburgh

Setting Suntrap not due to Trust

THE National Trust for Scotland managed the Suntrap Garden near Gogarburn (Don't let the sun go down on suntrap, News, May 20) for a period of only four years - between 1968 to 1972 - when we passed management over to the city.

We formally disposed of the property to the Education Authority in 1983, meaning NTS has had no direct involvement in the operation or management of Suntrap for 39 years. The Trust did not close the garden. Oatridge Agricultural College withdrew support in 2010, not NTS.

Furthermore, Millbuies House, which comprises a third of the site, has never been owned by NTS. It was gifted directly to Edinburgh council.

When George Boyd Anderson bequeathed Suntrap to the NTS in 1966, his wish was that if Suntrap could not be used as he intended, it should not incur any costs to the NTS, and could be disposed of and the proceeds devoted to other projects.

As a conservation charity, the Trust must raise every penny we spend on conservation works. Regrettably, it is not possible for us to take on properties that do not meet our charitable purposes. By doing so, we reduce our capacity and resources to do the work that Scotland expects.

Terry Levinthal, The National Trust for Scotland