Tunnel vision

I applaud the decision (your report, 27 March) to enhance and create more space to display the Scottish collection of paintings under the proposed National Gallery extension in Edinburgh.

However, I feel greater good for more people would accrue if a glorified tunnel was driven through Geordie Boyd’s Mud Brig to reconnect the old Nor’ Loch for pedestrians as CrossRail and London Underground have demonstrated that new tunnels can be constructed within inches of existing structures.

Allied to a new underground entrance to the Princes Street gallery, a rival to the famous Pyramid of the Louvre in Paris could be created.

This could be further enhanced if an escalator were to be built from the nearby tram stop into an existing shelter. Such a structure would also benefit Norman Springford’s imaginative scheme for the Ross Bandstand should it ever come to fruition.

Bill Veitch

Observatory Road

Edinburgh