Reduce our traffic for a clean future

Dear Editor,

In Glasgow this week people from around the world are meeting to agree urgent changes so we can all have a sustainable future.

One way is to reduce car usage and travel on buses.

There are three main problems to address: reliability, frequency and cleanliness.

I have had emails saying that some rural bus transport suffers from all three of these problems.

In towns there are also problems. Constituents of mine have told me they have on several occasions waited for buses for them not to turn up.

Why can’t electronic bus service updates be installed at bus stops in the Stirling area?

The resolution is a well funded publicly run bus service which is frequent and reliable.

If we want people who do not own cars to live in our rural communities a plan is required to enable this.

Action is urgently needed. We have no time to waste! Councillor Alasdair Tollemache

Greencouncil? Dear Editor,

Recently Stirling Council posted an article on Facebook

(or should that be Meta) advertising how “green” the council was. I thought this reply should reach a wider audience...

“Stirling Council, let me highlight your ‘green’ achievements within my local area.

You withdrew bus services forcing people to use their cars, thereby causing an increase in emissions.

You closed local bridges because you failed to maintain them.

Now local people must drive additional miles around long diversion routes, again causing an increase in emissions.

You closed the public toilets resulting in people ‘wild toileting’, thereby causing and increase in pollution.

You charge for garden waste collections, although the same refuse vehicles complete the same routes to empty the same brown bins of food waste, thereby causing and increase in emissions and an increase in pollution caused by flytipping. You reduced the collections of the grey bin to once a month, thereby causing and increase in pollution caused by more fly-tipping.

You grant planning permission for houses to be built on ‘green field’ sites rather than developing ‘brown field’ sites, thereby causing an increase in emissions and causing an increase in pollution. You waste untold amounts of public money by publicising unachievable ‘green’ targets, which you yourselves render unachievable, rather than investing in local jobs for local people.

Now you are wasting electricity and no doubt increasing associated emissions, by pointless gestures like this green light stunt.

If you were running a private company you would all be sacked for gross incompetence. Please, please all resign so that we can vote in someone who has at least half an idea of what they are doing.”

I tend to agree...

Andy Wheildon Dunblane