Snow plans go too far - 'The city is trying to learn lessons'

Everyone who battled the elements - and at times the odds - to get about Edinburgh during the worst of the winter weather will take some reassurance from knowing the city is trying to learn lessons from what went wrong.

We all appreciate some disruption is inevitable when conditions are the worst seen for at least 40 years, but most would agree we should be able to cope without one in five workers being stuck at home and city schools being closed for days on end.

One key to keeping the Capital moving is of course public transport and it struggled at times when the build up of snow and parked cars effectively turned many roads into one-way streets.

But the idea of using emergency powers to tow away cars which would otherwise be parked legally on main bus routes is a step too far.

Anyone who abandons their vehicle where it blatantly blocks the route of other travellers deserves nothing less. They can be dealt with though using the existing laws.

Hundreds more drivers were forced to park, perfectly sensibly, at the side of main roads simply because their own streets were inaccessible.

Unless the council can guarantee keeping many more of the adjoining side roads open next winter, penalising these motorists would be both unfair and risk forcing many off the road who may rely on their vehicles to get to work.

Can't beat bobbies

THE SNP'S boast of having put 1000 more police on the street is sure to be oft-repeated between now and the May election.

The 2007 manifesto pledge is one of the few Alex Salmond's minority government has been able to stick to - though Annabel Goldie reminded him last week that it was the Conservatives who kept him to his promise.

But whatever the political point-scoring, there is no doubt that getting bobbies on the beat is popular with law-abiding folk who want their reassuring presence.

So there will be a general welcome to the news that the Lothian and Borders force is to end its recruitment freeze and take on new probationers.

However, these must be additional cops, not raw replacements for experienced policemen who are forced off the beat or into desk jobs as part of wider cost-cutting.

As with the number of police forces across Scotland, the quantity of policemen on the payroll at Lothian is not as important to the public as how many cops are out there protecting them.