Letters: Supermarkets sweep up business from little shops

Maria Kelly of Gorgie/Dalry Community Council is quite right when she says the area still has some unique shops (News, December 12). But they are declining in number and those that are clinging on do so in spite of city council policy.

A few years ago, permission was given for a Sainsbury’s in Gorgie, despite warnings about the impact on Gorgie Road shops. Now the city council has given permission for a massive Morrisons in Chesser and a Sainsbury in Longstone, to add to a 24-hour Asda at Chesser.

That is why I take with a pinch of salt the launch of the “Gorgeous Gorgie” campaign to promote the local high street. It is a great idea and much-needed.

But until the city council stops rolling over to the supermarket giants, it looks like crumbs from a banquet happening in another room.

Gavin Corbett, Briarbank Terrace, Edinburgh

Festive fare or a bit of fowl play?

ONE of the attractions of Musselburgh is the large number of swans, ducks and geese to be seen on the banks of the River Esk in the centre of the town. They give enormous pleasure to everyone, but especially the children, who love to feed them.

The geese, however, are present in huge flocks and cause considerable damage to the grass and plant life on the banks of the river.

In view of Scotland’s appalling diet and problems with obesity, it seems to me that a perfectly good food source is being neglected. In the season of good-will why not select six geese to be presented as a “Christmas Goose” to needy families in Musselburgh?

I am sure that such a gesture would be much appreciated and will make little difference to the numbers of geese present on the Esk.

Ian Hain, Firrhill Loan, Edinburgh

Focus on job, not snide remarks

I WOULD like to correct Paul Edie’s distortion of the facts about Edinburgh Labour’s record in house building (Letters, December 12). Under the previous Labour administration, thousands of affordable homes were built across the city, in partnership with housing associations, as part of our vision for ‘affordable homes for all’.

Instead of wasting his time making snide political remarks, perhaps Cllr Edie should concentrate on actually doing his job, like providing affordable housing for the people of Muirhouse and Pennywell who have been left with a barren site, stuck in a stalemate for the last three years. Not one house has been built on that site during the current administration.

Cllr Cammy Day

Europe’s role in referendum poll

AT least the Prime Minister’s gloat dance in Brussels last week, and the First Minister’s greetin’ response, have placed clear blue water between the pro-independence and unionist arguments in Scotland.

When Holyrood eventually decides that we are all old enough to choose for ourselves, the referendum question will boil down to “inside Europe with Alex and Nicola, or (mostly) out of Europe with Dave and Cleggy”... or, damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

David Fiddimore, Calton Road, Edinburgh

Campaign makes waves over pool

ALTHOUGH I sympathise with the views of those who are saddened by the closure of Leith Waterworld, I am obliged to point out a number of factual inaccuracies in the article published on behalf of the Splashback campaign (News, December 12).

It is incorrect to claim that the Royal Commonwealth Pool refurbishment has gone £7m over budget – on the contrary, this major and technically complex project is progressing extremely well and will be completed as scheduled for a reopening next spring.

As to the £300,000 figure mentioned as the LWW operating cost, this actually refers, I think, to the £344,000 annual operational savings which will be made from the centre’s closure. This sum is factored into the business case for the RCP refurbishment – it will finance a substantial amount to be obtained through prudential borrowing. Without these operational savings, the city would face a funding shortfall of more than £5.5m for the RCP.

Deidre Brock, culture and leisure convener, Edinburgh City Council