Readers' letters: Who’s best placed to protect greenbelt?

I read with interest John McLellan’s denial in the Evening News (April 21) that the Edinburgh Tories were “working with developers” to allocate more greenbelt to development.

If he checks his own column from September 2021 he will see that he extensively cites Robin Holder, who he describes as a man whose “advice is keenly sought by developers” and suggests that not enough land had been allocated to development.Additionally, residents in my ward will recognise Robin Holder’s “Holder Planning” as being behind a proposal in 2019/20 to develop a large greenfield site on Frogston Road East. Indeed, in November 2021 Mr Holder wrote in the Evening News that “Edinburgh must expand”!As if the implication of that is not clear, John McLellan ends his article with the line “There is nothing wrong with defending the greenbelt, but the council must be honest about the implications.”I am proud to have reached the end of my five-year term as a councillor without any greenbelt land in my ward being lost to development. No "Polo Fields" have been lost on my watch.It has taken a lot of arguing, but the council now accepts that it can meet its housing supply targets without allocating any further greenbelt for development.

This will be agreed by the incoming councillors after the election. If re-elected I'll ensure our greenbelt is protected.

Cllr Scott Arthur, Edinburgh.

As God once said, and I think rightly . . .

Whatever you think about the UK Government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, politicians on all sides have criticised The Archbishop of Canterbury for wading in and using his privileged and widely broadcast Easter sermon to claim it was 'the opposite of the nature of God'.

Does Welby speak for “God”? Views of the laity on LGBT issues, abortion, contraception or assisted dying often differ wildly from church leaders.

Should The Archbishop be allowed to speak his personal views? Absolutely, but not from The House of Lords.

Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society.

Scottish island ferry fiasco worsens

The Scottish ferry fiasco continues with the Arran main ferry now broken down owing to its age, leaving the Island of Arran and its tourist industry in a complete seasonal shambles.

As if this wasn't bad enough the SNP are now getting reports that the MV Glen Sannox, which is now over four years late, is not of the correct specification for the ferry service it was designed for, as different parts of the SNP administration work against each other in getting what is now the most expensive ferry ever built in Scotland.

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen.

Experiments on animals must end

This Sunday (24 April) is World Day for Animals in Laboratories, a time for us all to reflect on the millions of cats, dogs, mice, rabbits and other sentient beings locked up in cages enduring ghastly and pointless experiments.

Almost all of them will be killed after they have been experimented on. But continuing to rely on barbaric tests on animals makes no sense.

Pfizer and Moderna proved that vaccine approval can and should happen far more quickly, bringing Covid-19 vaccines to market without waiting for the results of some mandatory tests on animals and instead focusing mostly on human data.

Dr Julia Baines, PETA, London.

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