Readers' letters: Silverknowes cycle routes waste money

The SNP and Greens voted against the Labour proposal of a review of the SfP, subjecting the residents of Silverknowes further hardship. The previous council may no longer be in control but can unfortunately continue to cause problems.

Councillor Norman Work the only councillor in the Almond area who vetoed the plan to listen to the constituents and consider removal of cycle lanes, states he stood on a manifesto commitment to increase segregated cycle routes. Unfortunately he disregarded the safety and requirements of the citizens he was elected to serve.

Cllr Work was at the previous Davidson Mains and Silverknowes residents meeting attended by myself where he was challenged about his evident lack of knowledge of the Silverknowes area.

He did not appear to realise that these cycle lanes are not used by the vulnerable groups they were supposed to be erected to assist during Covid 19.

No children use them as the quiet route round narrow roads takes longer than directly down the road. Elderly/disabled folk in the main don't cycle; in fact there has been no upsurge of cyclist in any age.

I have lived on Silverknowes Road for 40 years with no problems, there was room for pedestrians and all types of vehicles in areas now given over to cycle lanes. A number of injuries to pedestrians have occurred due to unnecessary lane defender units. Residents need to use their cars more often as they cannot receive deliveries or taxis to their home.

The result of cycle lanes in Silverknowes is a large amount of money wasted.

Nancy Richardson, Edinburgh.

Iran poses a nuclear security threat

The cyberattacks on NATO member Albania and consequent expulsion of all Iranian diplomats from that country should remind us that Russia and China are not the only hostile states that threaten ourselves and other European countries.

Last year Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi was convicted in Belgium of smuggling explosives for a plot to blow up an Iranian opposition gathering in Paris.

Also last year, the US Department of Justice announced that it had disrupted an Iranian government plot to kidnap opponents in the US, Canada and the UK. Iran uses taking hostages, such as the notorious case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, as a means to get what it wants.

In 2014 Albania accepted 3000 members of the Iranian opposition group People's Mujahideen Organ-isation of Iran as refugees.

Had they instead been repatriated from Iraq to Iran they would have almost certainly have been secretly murdered as happened to many thousands of political prisoners in the 1988 prison massacres.

Much more worrying than any of this is that Iran has enriched Uranium to 60 per cent.

The regime, which has an extensive missile programme and is open about its genocidal intent to destroy Israel, is now not far from the 90 per cent enrichment necessary for nuclear weapons.

Sadly, diplomacy and international norms do not work with this fanatical theocratic regime.

Otto Inglis, Crossgates.

Calm down, Greens

On 8 September fossil fuels provided 67.4 per cent and renewables 13.4 per cent of electricity. Past week 56.9 and 28.7; month 57.2 and 22.8; year 44.3 and 28.1.

This poor performance is from over 11,000 UK wind turbines. Due to the variability of the weather, wind and solar cannot ensure security of supply for UK electrical energy.

The UK will always need fossil fuel back-up.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow.

Write to the Edinburgh Evening News

We welcome your thoughts. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments. If referring to an article, include date, page number and heading.

Subscribe

Subscribe at www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/subscriptions