The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Letters to the editor
Do not forget Scotland’s original new towns
Sir, - Should we applaud Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson’s call (September 2) for a fresh wave of new towns?
Her case for them seems to be that they would help the housing crisis and, in particular, the needs of first-time buyers.
Building new communities is bit more complicated than that and needs to take into account a number of things.
This includes employment in a digital age, transport and leisure provision.
It will need, in short, a degree of planning and her party has traditionally been suspicious of such government intervention on a large scale.
That is not to say that the private sector cannot be the engine that takes the new towns forward.
It will still need a wide degree of co-operation with local councils and Holyrood if her ambitions are to be realised.
It is to be hoped Ms Davidson will not ignore, too, the situation in the former new towns like Glenrothes and East Kilbride, both 70 years old next year.
They served not just to create homes to help ease the scandal of slum housing after the Second World War. For many years they served as growth points to help rejuvenate the Scottish economy.
Many of the industries that helped them flourish are long gone. They badly need a fresh injection of both public and private investment.
Hopefully the Conservative leader will not forget their plight as she puts forward her argument for new communities and new standards of housing.
health is entirely due to having a population of over five million, the arithmetical logic being that their assets go further.
Meanwhile, Scots are constantly told that our economic ill health is the result of having a similar sized population of over five million. Too wee apparently.
This is an all-tootypical unionist ability to face in two directions at once, worthy of the Roman god Janus. Ken Clark. 335 King Street, Broughty Ferry.
Tory welfare cuts slammed
Sir, - It was Mahatma Gandhi who said a nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.
This struck home as I read reports that a United Nations panel has slammed the United Kingdom for creating a “human catastrophe for disabled people” and is “going backward” in areas such as education, health, transport and social security.
In its report, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities said a combination of funding cuts, rights restrictions and Brexit means that its fears about the UK outstrip those of anywhere else it has investigated in its 10-year history, a damning indictment of Tory policies and their impact on the disabled.
The Tory government should be ashamed that its policy of welfare cuts and continuation of an austerity agenda has led to this damning report.
Contrasting with this, the panel praised the Scottish Government for its actions in including disability groups in planning and policy making and for its inclusion of disabled people in designing the Scottish social security system.
The Tories must act to reverse their disastrous and dangerous welfare cuts which have led to such condemnation from the United Nations. Alex Orr. 77 Leamington Terrace, Edinburgh.
Get tough with rogue cyclists
Sir, - I was walking with my wife east along the Seagate in Dundee towards the Trades Lane junction on August 28 and was about to turn the corner when a man on a mountain bike hurtled round narrowly missing my wife.
As he swerved onto the Seagate roadway a bus just missed him by inches. The results of this could have been disastrous.
Amazingly this was our second encounter with a bike on the same pavement in the Seagate within minutes.
We ourselves both cycle but we have noticed this type of anti-social behaviour increasing with an almost total disregard for pedestrians.
Stiffer penalties and better training may help, or maybe more police on foot in the town centre to enforce the existing laws might help. David Niven. 47 Elie Avenue, Barnhill, Broughty Ferry.
The Tories must act to reverse their disastrous and dangerous welfare cuts which have led to such condemnation from the United Nations