Salisbury Crags' 'sky walkway' plan is as daft as Princes Street motorway wheeze – John McLellan

Views remain divided over the Golden Walnut Whip or Turd, whatever your description of the new St James Quarter hotel, but for a truly bonkers idea look no further than the suggestion of a “sky walkway” above Salisbury Crags.

Edinburgh might soon have something similar to this Skywalk in Canada

Based on a Canadian project, according to the BBC it’s being considered by Historic Environment Scotland as way of reopening access above the Radical Road in Holyrood Park.

I had to check whether the appointment of a new Dr Who had resulted in a momentary shift in the space-time continuum, and it was April 1.

If you can’t put PVC windows at the back of a tenement in an Edinburgh conservation area, the notion that a steel-and-glass carbuncle could be bolted to one the city’s most famous natural landmarks must go down as one of the most staggeringly dumb proposals since Patrick Abercrombie thought it would be a good idea to turn Princes Street into a motorway.

They might as well build a Ferris wheel on the Lion’s Haunch.

Either letting the idea out was a clever way of killing it off, or someone in HES has taken leave of their senses, but the priority should be to re-open the Radical Road after being closed for three years because of the danger of rockfalls, in which time it should have been possible to make it safe.

The beauty of the Crags, Arthur’s Seat and Hunters Bog is that they are wild places at the heart of the city, something which should be treasured.