Jump out of your car to appreciate cycle lane beauty

I WAS leading a guided cycle tour last Monday towards Cramond using the excellent "traffic-free" Roseburn path.

Just as we came towards Craigleith we were met by what looked like a private Range Rover.

The vehicle was being driven very carefully and slowed down to pass as we waited at the side of the track.

I then caught sight of a TIE sticker on the back window and realised that this must be a visit for the Granton tram route.

If TIE wish to do further trips on the cycle paths I'm happy to lead a tour and let them see what a brilliant asset these paths are to the city.

Viewing a cycle route such as this from the inside of a vehicle is such a shame.

TIE are very keen on their "green" credentials so minimising car use should be in line with company policy.

I would also hope that the final structure of the tramway on the Roseburn corridor will not result in a greatly inferior narrow path that discourages walkers and cyclists.

My fear is that the proposed changes will remove much of the natural beauty that people enjoy on the current route.

David Gardiner, Laid Back Bikes, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh

Lack of planning skills makes mess

I HAVE read with concern the letters regarding the proposed waste transfer plant at Portobello.

I am not a resident of Portobello but live nearby and enjoy having access to the seaside when the weather is good. To place, or even consider placing, such a monstrosity in the vicinity of a such popular Edinburgh attraction is sheer lunacy and clearly Edinburgh City Council are (yet again) out of touch with the people who elected them to office.

Surely the increased pollution levels alone are reason to deny any planning application. The council themselves have highlighted the congestion, and subsequent pollution, problems that are evident in Edinburgh but seem to be considering a plan which will add at least 900 HGV journeys a day.

A number of these are bound to travel through the city to reach Portobello. Such an apparent conflict of interests can only make you wonder what the political agenda is behind this decision.

Does the council want to offload waste transfer costs to the private sector in order to free up funds for the ill-thought-out tram scheme?

I agree that these facilities have to exist but something that has such a negative impact on the local environment should be placed in industrial sites well outside residential areas. If the council had any form of forward and town planning skills these areas would already exist and be well serviced by road and rail links.

John Peacock, Easter Road, Edinburgh

Stop propaganda and give us service

NATIONAL Express now runs the main arterial route between London and Edinburgh. I have travelled on this line on a number of occasions and I have had a chance to reflect upon the magazine distributed on the train, Livewire.

The glossy modern magazine is at odds with the dowdy antiquated carriages. The company's corporate message in the magazine about "positive customer experience" is out of synch with the real world passenger reality on these dirty, expensive trains.

The service provided by National Express is shameful and should be a source of national embarrassment. We have gone backwards since GNER ran the service. What must tourists visiting this country make of the National Express customer experience?

National Express should be compelled to spend less on glossy propaganda sheets and more on their trains.

The service best sums up a country suffering from a lack of political vision over our railways and the abject failure of regulators.

Gary Smith, Chesham Place, Brighton, East Sussex

Make air travel the luxury it once was

GREEN councillors are quite right to point out the hypocrisy of other politicians' claiming concern on climate change at the same time as promoting the expansion of Edinburgh airport (News, May 15). Supporters of expansion tend to assert that it is vital for the economy but let us delve beneath that claim.

To the extent that air travel is used for freight, it is for practices such as flying in exotic fruit or fresh-cut flowers from halfway around the globe. Everyone can see that this is unsustainable so can be left aside for now.

So we are talking about passengers here. After all, it is important for companies to be able to meet and do business isn't it? No doubt the proximity of Edinburgh airport was one of the things that persuaded RBS to keep its headquarters and 6000 prime jobs at Gogarburn (prising out a slice of otherwise protected greenbelt land in the process).

Yes, except that air travel goes both ways. In the unlikely event that RBS had thrown its toys out of the pram and relocated, it would doubtless have cited cheap flights into Edinburgh as the reason for being able to service its Scottish customer base from a remote location!

In this age of internet and video-conference the truth is that much business travel is vanity travel and nothing much to do with efficient running of a company.

So that leaves tourism then. Like most other people in Edinburgh I love the bustle that visitors from elsewhere bring to our city, especially in the Festival weeks. But the festivals cannot keep growing forever, without killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Saying the tourism industry is utterly dependent on cheap flights is to say that what Edinburgh offers is pretty flimsy.

Over the years "the economy" has always been used as an excuse for inaction. Centuries ago it was said that slavery was a vital prop for the economy which would otherwise collapse. But just as there was a moral imperative to get rid of slavery, so there is an environmental imperative to reverse the growth in air travel and bring it back to being the occasional luxury that it surely is.

Gavin Corbett, Briarbank Terrace, Edinburgh