Letters: Council must act to stop our city looking like a tip

We have had a very busy Fringe with thousands of tourists descending on the Capital, and what is the lasting impression they will come away with? Friendly people, but the city has a litter problem.

I live in the New Town. Our rubbish collections have been reduced from every night to twice a week.

I don’t have a problem with this, it means the streets will only be strewn with seagull-created rubbish twice a week instead of seven.

And what is the council going to do about the seagulls? Either a cull is needed, or the big black bins should be placed out on the streets.

Something has to be done.

We need more rubbish bins in the city, and they should be emptied on a regular basis.

If the council is allowing late licences until 5am then at 5:30am we need a team out on the street ready to tidy up.

It isn’t happening. The place is a tip.

Kevin Rafferty, Edinburgh

Costly fig leaf is so embarrassing

WHAT happened last Thursday in the City Chambers was undoubtedly the worst decision made in that room in my time, and I suspect for many years.

I think most people out there will be wondering, and rightly so, how supposedly educated people could vote for such a meaningless, costly fig leaf of a decision.

As a Leith councillor my vision is to see the tram run down Leith Walk and on to Granton.

Given the undoubted problems this will take time, but if councillors do not have the vision and faith that world- renowned engineers and the best legal brains in the country have provided, then we will never see the tram in Leith, and that will be a tragedy.

If we can get the tram to the city centre where it will make money, then surely it will be easier to get it to Leith. How opposition councillors can vote to take the tram to Haymarket only is beyond me.

Who is going to get on a tram at the airport, then get off at Haymarket and on to a bus to get to the city centre?

It is like Toy Town, and really has made Edinburgh a laughing stock

I do hope even at this stage we can salvage the situation, and try to redeem Edinburgh’s reputation .

Marjorie Thomas, Lib/Dem Councillor, Leith Ward

Rail easy answer to travel problem

WE’VE heard all about the costs, the delays, the arguments and stand-offs between TIE and tram contractors and now the news that the line is only going to Haymarket after all!

But what is the council’s argument for not just building a rail line from the airport to Edinburgh Park, which already has a frequent rail service into Haymarket and Waverley?

I’m curious as to why such a simple solution was disregarded.

Stuart Ball, Atheling Grove, South Queensferry, Edinburgh

Building homes should be priority

LLOYDS TSB Scotland’s latest Scottish House Price Monitor may suggest faltering demand in the housing market, with house prices down 3.7 per cent between May and July compared to the previous year.

But a new Progressive Scottish Opinion poll commissioned by the Scottish Building Federationand the Chartered Institute of Building Scotland shows public need for affordable housing has never been greater.

Forty per cent of respondents to our poll said building homes for people on housing waiting lists should be the Scottish Government’s top priority when it comes to investing public money in construction projects over the next three years.

The public’s second priority was to build and refurbish schools while their third priority was to build hospitals.

With affordable housing budgets cut by 19 per cent this year alone, we need to re-prioritise our capital investment programme to make sure it remains in step with public opinion.

Michael Levack, Chief Executive, Scottish Building Federation, Crichton’s Close, Holyrood, Edinburgh