Letters: Conservationists' moans about Edinburgh city centre development are 'exasperating'

This Edinburgh resident believes the moans of 'self-styled conservationists' are way off the mark.

I am increasingly exasperated at the moans of self-styled ‘conservationists’ about essential economic development in central Edinburgh, whose latest complaints arise from some temporary scaffolding in Princes Street Gardens, the effects of which will have long since gone when it comes time to re-erect it for next year’s Xmas Market.

When will these dinosaurs realise that as so few locals now live in the city centre due to Airbnb (and even fewer bother shopping in Princes Street on account of the council’s exorbitant parking charges), visual amenity is irrelevant?

Instead, if Edinburgh is to flourish financially in the current Brexit uncertainty, we must encourage tourists (and day visitors from elsewhere in central Scotland) to come and spend their money on whatever tawdry items may appeal, no matter what it does for the city’s appearance.

Vegetation can easily be replanted, but unemployment and poverty can blight entire lives.

John Eoin Douglas, Spey Terrace, Edinburgh.