Community council calls for collaborative approach

For many people who approach it – occasionally and without previous experience or specialist training – the Scottish planning system is an intimidating mystery.

Certainly, some of its fundamental principles – such as the right of appeal for developers but not for objectors – perpetuate a postwar government bias towards rebuilding over conservation.

The annual Doors Open Days offer public access to buildings which are not usually accessible. In several senses,  they reveal much about the city.

One of the things that appeals to visitors here is that so many museums and galleries are open to the public. In contrast, they are disheartened that so many seemingly ‘public’ places are strictly private: the gardens of the New Town being a classic example. Visitors (and some residents) peer longingly over fences and walls at the forbidden fruits within.

North Clyde Street Lane.

No. 26 in an occasional photo series celebrating Spurtleshire street-name signs.

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Stockbridge in Edinburgh has a reputation for being a ‘posh’ residential area and an attractive destination, especially at the weekends.

Visitors’ itineraries often combine a trip here with other places along the Water of Leith Walkway such as Dean Village. According to the 2023 Skinny Guide to Edinburgh, its ‘scenic streets are a manna for influencers’ and full of ‘bougie shops’, brunch spots, as well as an ‘astounding number of charity shops’.

The date by which anyone running a short-term let (STL) in Scotland needs to have their paperwork in order is 1 October 2023.

As you read this, advance copies of the September Spurtle are not spreading across the barony like confused tourists in unsuccessful search of a short-term let.

Instead, they remain twinkles in the eye of a printer, whose celebration of the recent English bank holiday has delayed the appearance of Issue 332 until the actual day of its official publication.

Expect to start seeing paper copies, moist with the sweat of anxious delivery pixies, from lunchtime tomorrow. In the meantime, there follows the customary unhelpful preview.