SOMETHING old, nothing new was my thought on the contents of the letters from Mr Alan Sneddon (May 30 and June 2) regarding last week's A80 traffic jams.
Please allow me to quote North Lanarkshire Council's report, M80/M73 Extension, Stepps to Haggs Agenda, item 13: ''The Kelvin valley route introduces a motorway into a rural valley thereby distorting the essential character and causing irretrievable loss of one of North Lanarkshire's most attractive tracts of countryside.''
Of course I am bearing in mind when quoting the above that North Lanarkshire Council are the only public body actively supporting Mr Sneddon's viewpoint!
As someone whose house looks on to the A80 on-line route, I am totally opposed to a motorway being constructed through the Kelvin Valley. Scotland's future environment means more to me than personal gain.
Catriona C Clark,
52 Hawthorn Drive,
Banknock, Falkirk. June 2.
SURELY the point being made in Anne Fairley's letter (June 1) regarding the system adopted to upgrade an on-line section of the A74 was that it worked and there was no reason to suppose that it would not work if applied to the proposed A80 upgrade. While I understand this would not lend itself to Mr Alan Sneddon's ''By-pass'' purpose (June 2) it is nevertheless a valid point.
Saving the Kelvin Valley is a national issue. I therefore fail to see the relevance of Mr Sneddon's account of his family history. It is also the case, although a sad one, that some folk would not recognise or appreciate beauty in nature however long they stared at it. For others with a wider perspective it takes just one look.
In Mr Sneddon's case, with his lengthy experience, it appears, in most things, is it perhaps a case of familiarity breeding contempt? One thing of which I am sure is that those who cry for the valley's destruction have never viewed it from my vantage point.
Let's hope that the new Labour Government will demonstrate its professed commitment to our environment and that it won't be a case of not knowing what we've got till it's gone.
Lee-Anne Nicol,
Taigh a' Mhullaich,
Mid Barrwood Road, Kilsyth.
June 2.
IN journalism the use of irony is not always appreciated, especially by those who have an established opinion, however unreasonable.
But perhaps the description ''Kelvin wastelands'' is not irony at all, but fact. How on earth did our ancestors, these years ago, permit the construction of a Forth and Clyde Canal through this scenic Kelvin valley?
Of course - to improve transport and provide a trunk connection! Now, with a decent road, we could all enjoy the scenery.
T S Mann,
30 Drymen Road, Bearsden.
June 2.
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