I AM delighted to hear that Glasgow City Council has found an extra £6 million for pothole repairs ("City doubles its pothole budget after impact of severe winter", The Herald, May 8).

I only hope that this public money is spent more wisely in future, as the current approach seems to be to send someone out with a shovel of Tarmac to dump in the potholes, which within weeks break up again, only to create another pothole to add to the 7,000 across Glasgow.

After several emails to my local councillor about this money-wasting approach, he got an official to explain why they were doing this. It turns out that if anybody else, like the water, electric, broadband or gas companies, dig up the roads they must reinstate them to the condition they found them in. However councils are allowed to complete these repairs to a much lower standard, including literally dumping a pile of Tarmac in the hole. What a ridiculous waste of our council taxes.

There is a secondary roads problem that also blights our city, that of flooding of the gutters. This is caused mainly by the lack of regular gulley clearing, although the council has all the vehicles and staff it needs to complete this preventative work. Many of the roads are almost permanently flooded at bus stops, where waiting passengers risk getting soaked whilst waiting for their buses. I have seen visually-impaired people standing at such sites unaware that they are going to get soaked when their bus arrives at the bus stop.

Again an official sent me notes on the policy they have for clearing gulleys. Some are cleaned annually and others bi-annually. Clearly this is not sufficient to clear the constant flooding of even our main roads, such as the Great Western Road where a drive from Byres Road out to the Clydebank turn-off will have drivers ploughing through at least 10 areas where the carriageway is flooded across the west and east sides long after we had any rainfall.

Max Cruickshank, Glasgow.

Take action to save buildings

MARK Smith’s article on the fate of the Sir John Stirling Maxwell School building ("Death of a building that says everything about Glasgow", The Herald, May 8) is an indictment of the appalling approach local government in Scotland often takes to preserving heritage buildings. Perhaps because we have had so many of them they are simply taken for granted – but that will not be the case if things remain as they are.

Derelict buildings falling into disrepair is fairly commonplace and shockingly that is often under local government ownership. At some point the priority seems to become intentionally letting them reach a point where they are declared as unsafe or unsalvageable. Often "asbestos" is cited as the reason, conveniently silencing further discussion.

At that point they are lost to the community, often now to be replaced by unimaginative, dense housing developments that do not draw on the local architectural vernacular nor improve the sense of community identity and belonging. Such houses increase the taxation income of local governments, though, highlighting the conflicted role of government in building preservation and development planning.

A more proactive approach to saving our built heritage would serve communities far better. That is a matter for private owners but the role of government is also crucial.

Christopher Ruane, Lanark.

Read more: The death of a building that says everything about Glasgow

Here's how uni can save cash

THE Principal of Edinburgh University is advocating that wealthier families should pay for places for their children ("Option raised for wealthier Scots to pay university fees", The Herald, May 10). I assume that this suggestion is being made as the university needs more money to cover ever-increasing overheads.

An obvious alternative to increasing income is to reduce expenditure, and what better place to start than the Principal’s inflated salary of £342,000 per annum plus his gold-plated pension scheme? This could then be followed by a review of the numbers of members of, and the remuneration levels of, the five Vice-Principals and the bloated “Senior Leadership Team”. Similar savings could no doubt be made at other Scottish universities where high six-figure remuneration packages appear to be the norm.

Alan McGibbon, Paisley.

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The origins of Blairs Museum

IT is unfortunate that the article on the relocation of Blairs Museum ("New museum to tell turbulent story of Scotland’s Catholicism", The Herald, May 9) suggests that this collection began its life in 1992. In fact, in the decade before the closure of Blairs College in 1986 the museum sited in the college gained membership of the Scottish Council of Museums, sent items to exhibitions in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, saw improvements like the restoration of the Marie Stuart and Old Pretender portraits by Harry Woolford OBE, and had constant assistance and advice from North East Museums and from experts in the Catholic Church's Heritage Commission.

It was this commission under the leadership of the late Archbishop Mario J Conti which was largely responsible for the re-opening of the museum in the former college building. While one hopes that despite the difficulties of relocation the collection will continue to make its contribution to Scotland's cultural history, it would be a pity if its origins were to be forgotten.

(Rev) John McIntyre, former Rector, Blairs College, Girvan.

Fear of Fergie

AFTER reading Ruth Marr’s letter (May 10) headed “The ageing working Royals will have a hard time keeping this show on the road”, I was alarmed to see an adjacent letter heading “If only Fergie had stayed”. I am allergic to football, so Sir Alex Ferguson was not the Fergie that sprang immediately to my mind.

Iain Stuart, Glasgow.

A burning desire

IAN Graham (Letters, May 9) calls for suggestions for the naming of the soulless Hull 802. In response, I propose that as an interim – hopefully not permanent – measure it should be called “The Eternal Flame", which is something which never goes out. This would be a daily reminder to shame both the management of Ferguson Marine and the Scottish Government into ever-increasing effort to get the job finished without any further and costly delay.

Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop.

• AT the risk of being labelled a copycat, I would like to suggest calling the new ferry “Ferry McFerryface”.

Margaret Forbes, Blanefield.