V&A will not cure city’s ills

Sir, - The Courier’s leading article last Friday declared a new era beckons for tourism in Scotland with half a million visitors predicted to visit the new V&A in its first year.

I’m no cultural philistine, but I’m not convinced by the claims being made by various leading figures about ‘growing the local economy, creating jobs and sustaining communities’.

I think £80 million on a museum is a shocking waste of money and could have been better spent on much more deserving issues in Dundee.

If you are eating out of a Foodbank on the outskirts of Dundee you are unlikely to be able to even afford the bus fare to the waterfront to visit the new V&A.

For £80 million we could abolish Foodbanks and feed Dundee’s poor.

For £80 million we could avoid the forthcoming round of public sector cuts about to be imposed on this city by the council and thus protect jobs and services.

For £80 million we could employ more nurses and doctors at Ninewells Hospital.

For £80 million we could employ more General Practitioners to alleviate the desperate lack of them locally.

For £80 million we could have built desperately needed council/social housing to alleviate the homeless problem.

Jenny Marra MSP says: “We need to make sure that the museum will reap benefits for everyone in the city.”

I doubt very much it will benefit any of Dundee’s poor living on the housing estates in the north of our city. Jim Barlow. 35 St Nicholas Place, Dundee.