Monstrous waste transfer plant bid is a real stinker

I HAVE read Mr Leslie's letter (May 8) about the waste transfer site and I am extremely concerned that this proposal has a chance of being approved.

As a resident of Portobello for the best part of 50 years, and having seen a lot of changes to the area, mostly good ones, I am appalled that the council are even considering letting this monstrosity go ahead, in an area near where they hope to build a new high school.

Do they really think that Portobello will benefit from the thundering noise, pollution and smell created by 900 HGV lorries a day? Surely not.

A council that is constantly preaching to us about traffic pollution and congestion in the city cannot let this proposal go through in an area already suffering badly from traffic congestion.

Is it a case of "nimby" for some of the councillors?

I would like to think that Mr MacAskill, Mr Strang et al will make their voices heard in this matter very soon.

The dice seem to be loaded very much in favour of Viridor, who have right of appeal if they lose, but the residents who have paid rates, poll tax and council tax over the years to keep these councillors in a job have no right of appeal.

Excuse the pun, but something stinks about this whole affair.

This must not be allowed to go ahead.

Ian Hamilton, Argyle Crescent, Edinburgh


Displaced pupils a real school concern

I AM writing with regard to the article about pupils going into primary 1 and the catchments they attend. The number of catchment pupils for Craiglockhart Primary School for 2008 is not 51, as stated, but 48 (this figure came from Audrey Neate in the placements team at the council on April 22). Despite this number the council still insists on allowing 55 children into primary 1 this year. This means that five primary 1 children will be placed in a class with 20 P2s.

As a parent I have huge concerns about the impact this decision will have on those five children. Potentially my daughter (who was deferred) could be one of the five but we have no idea when they will be named. The letter informing parents of the situation was sent out on April 16, giving parents no opportunity to consider alternatives.

Looking down the list of schools, Craiglockhart Primary is the only one with an intake of 55 next year. The council is also not consistent in its policy – why is the situation at James Gillespie's not the same (they have 51 catchment pupils and a proposed intake of just 50)?

Potentially, there will be many displaced pupils going into primary 1 this year due to the capping of class sizes at 25 and it would be interesting to look at the impact this is having on different families throughout the city.

Helen Walker, Alderbank Place, Shandon


Help give support for autistic adults

AS a supporter of The National Autistic Society (NAS), I am very worried about the lack of help available to adults with autism. Autism is a lifelong condition, yet as I Exist, the new report from the NAS has found, many adults with the disability struggle to get the help they so desperately need. Many feel isolated and ignored and are entirely dependent on their families for support. I want to see the right services and support in place so people with autism in Edinburgh can reach their true potential – the right help at the right time can have a profound effect.

That is why I'm supporting the NAS "think differently about autism" campaign. I urge people in Edinburgh to visit www.think-differently.org.uk and help put pressure on local and national government to do more to transform the lives of adults with autism.

Ms Hazel Bon, Glen Street, Edinburgh


Feature on 'strike' is highly inventive

GINA DAVIDSON (Evening News, May 8) has taken feature writing to a new high by not only commenting on the news but also in inventing it when she says Unison has threatened strike action against fair pay. We have not.

Unison has been pushing the council for nine years to deliver on the Single Status agreement we both signed up to in 1999. If the council had not dragged its feet we would have had fair pay for low paid women workers years ago and no need for the thousands of equal pay claims costing millions.

As for public holidays, let's be clear what the real issue is. The people most affected will be the lowest paid who already work shifts covering 24 hours, 365 days a year and have to work all public holidays anyway. Those who look after our elderly and our children will have their wages cut because they will lose the extra money for working public holidays. Those who clean our streets, who respond to emergencies and who provide essential services on a round the clock basis will also be affected. But even on this issue, we have not threatened to strike because we are still in negotiations and we do not know what the final deal will look like.

And as for Gina's look back into history with the view that staff were "humiliated" in the nursery nurses strike, I admire the high aspirations she must have had for these dedicated staff. Yes, we think these workers deserved more, but a rise in salary of up to £4000 for some staff was hardly a "humiliation". The humiliation was surely that experienced by the employers who forced them into weeks of strike action to get a settlement that most reasonable people agree was well-deserved, long overdue and should have been reached without the need for disruption.

John Stevenson, president, Unison City of Edinburgh Branch


Green fees belted straight into rough

ARE you aware that Edinburgh Leisure has increased green fees at the Braids by 15 per cent? Is this to compensate for the council tax freeze? Guess what has happened – as a result fewer people are turning up to play. All Edinburgh Leisure has done is cut its own throat.

W Duncan, Viewforth Gardens, Edinburgh


Lift at station is the right step

I AM pleased to hear that Haymarket Station is, apparently, finally to be made accessible for customers in prams and wheelchairs, or even just those for whom steep stairs are a bit daunting (Makeover to give station a real lift, Evening News, May 8).

In 2006 I wrote to Transport Scotland about the long-standing disgraceful inaccessibility of one of Scotland's busiest stations. The earliest the work would be carried out, I was told, was 2011, more than a decade after the Disability Discrimination Act!

Now it seems that the work has been brought forward to 2009 or 2010. Let us hope that the authorities actually deliver this time. Woe betide them if they fail to do so!

Gavin Corbett, Briarbank Terrace, Edinburgh