Housing comes at a huge cost

Sir, – The Courier featured an article on Friday March 9 stating that the massive expansion plans for

Blairgowrie are poised for approval.

Blairgowrie is quite big enough now.

The quality of life will be seriously downgraded if the infrastructure and amenities are not greatly improved before any expansion is even considered.

These improvements should be provided at the same time and as part of the same contract as the rest of the development.

This was the opinion of many residents during a local development plan public consultation.

Where are the results of this exercise?

How is it we are now on a second version of a local development plan with denser housing proposed on several more sites before seeing these results?

The fact is that public consultation is routinely ignored by Perth and Kinross Council, as has been demonstrated by the Hill Primary School being sold for £1 after proposals for a muchneeded multi-purpose facility were rejected despite considerable expenditure.

The initial West Park bid was non-conforming because of the lack of an impact study. Where is the study? Scotland has a limited need for more housing.

Many existing properties are hard to sell already.

Brownfield sites are much under-used.

Where has the requirement come from?

The EU, Government, local councils?

We are not told. Over-population in parts of England has caused gridlock to roads, transport, services and unaffordable house prices.

Scotland must not be allowed to fall into this trap.

Symptomatic of this depressing situation is the lack of accountability in the decision-making process.

Suppression of information is now so rife that discussion of proposals and public feedback must be made more transparent.

Perhaps all unelected civil servants, including at councils, financed by our taxes should be asked to reapply for their own jobs every few years, as happens in a number of countries overseas.

This might concentrate their minds.

It is totally depressing that quality of life is

“The fact is that public consultation is routinely ignored by Perth and Kinross Council, as has been demonstrated by the Hill Primary School being sold for £1 after proposals for a much-needed multi-purpose facility were rejected despite considerable expenditure.

ignored in the quest for power grabs by our governing elites. What is worse is the lack of accountability. We need to halt this development now. Sean Galbally. Birkrigg,

West Altamount Lane, Blairgowrie.