Our Victorian and Edwardian forebears have bequeathed to us many beautiful and well-tended urban parks, which they established in towns and cities throughout Scotland as green oases where working people could enjoy passive recreation.

Unfortunately, this priceless legacy would now appear to be under serious threat as never before.

For some years, Edinburgh City Council has proposed using Common Good Land at Portobello Park to build a new Portobello High School, despite successful legal moves by a local action group to prevent this. Undeterred, the council recently submitted a Private Bill to the Scottish Parliament, with a view to having the designation of the land suitably altered to allow it to proceed with the development. According to the action group's website, the fear is that this precedent will be used by local authorities across Scotland to take other Common Good land for similar purposes.

This is in fact coming to pass, as West Dunbartonshire Council recently announced its preferred site for a new Our Lady and St Patrick's High School in Dumbarton is Posties Park, which, together with the adjacent Levengrove Park, provides a most pleasing verdant prospect across the river from the town centre. As if to add insult to injury, the council also considered using Argyle Park in Alexandria as a possible site.

Glasgow City Council recently leased eight acres of land at Bellahouston Park to the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, at a peppercorn rental for 60 years, for the construction of a palliative care centre. While this is certainly a most worthy project, the question must surely be asked as to whether it is desirable for local authorities to continue to be allowed to dispose of, or re-designate, public parkland for purposes other than recreation.

Even Glasgow's hitherto unspoiled wilderness at Cathkin Braes Country Park has been adversely affected by development recently. An ugly wind turbine, together with associated electric sub-station and access track, have recently appeared in the park and more may follow. Mountain bike tracks were bulldozed all over the park recently for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and it is now impossible to enjoy a quiet walk there.

Industrialist James Dick, who gifted the park to the city in 1887 with the stipulation that it be retained in a natural state and open for public enjoyment, must surely be turning in his grave.

Robert D Campbell,

48 McLean Place,

Paisley.

I would like to highlight a situation which I feel is all too common. As a retired biology teacher and conservationist, I am deeply concerned about any abuse of the environment.

Over the past few years, a housing development has been built at the back of our house.

There was a line of lime trees along the top of the site and six were removed by one of the developers. The remaining two trees, according to the other house builder and the local authority last year, were to be retained.

This year when foundations were dug the builders cut through large sections of the roots of these two 70-year-old trees, damaging them and rendering them unstable. The local authority then deemed them unsafe and had them felled, contrary to the original plans.

I am very concerned that this is not an isolated case. The Scottish Government should be taking a tougher stand against companies who ignore the original agreements and are allowed to go unpunished by the local authorities.

Can I suggest an audit or record is kept of the number of complaints and occasions that similar activities occur? This would ensure builders are legally and morally bound to protect the surroundings against damage and not put the profit motive ahead of environmental protection.

Alistair JD Jones,

25 Royellen Avenue,

Hamilton.

The latest report on the challenges facing one of Scotland's valuable shellfish exports underlines how important it is that we manage our seas in ways which enable the recovery of our precious marine resources ("Not so toasty for prawns", The Herald, May 23).

Clearly these are difficult times for Scotland's important prawn fisheries and these latest stresses must not unravel work undertaken to ensure we fish in environmentally responsible ways.

Only last year our fishermen agreed to develop their own highly selective gears which have allowed catches of prawns to be continue, while cutting back on discards of recovering stocks of valuable white fish such as cod and haddock.

This action by forward-thinking fishermen must continue and environmental groups such as RSPB Scotland will continue to support them.

Kara Brydson,

Senior Marine Policy Officer,

RSPB Scotland,

2 Lochside View,

Edinburgh.