Breaking news

City of Edinburgh Council's Development Management Subcommittee yesterday unanimously refused planning permission for a controversial short-term letting proposal at 7–8 Baxter’s Place (Ref. 17/05645/FUL). 

City of Edinburgh Council is to consult on ways to develop public space on Arboretum Place outside the West Gate of the Royal Botanic Garden. 

The area is currently dominated by parking, with (often fast-moving) traffic dividing Inverleith Park from the John Hope Gateway. 

According to a leaflet circulating today, ‘The proposal is to create a space more suitable for pedestrians and cyclists, with some disabled parking remaining at the kerb.

Save Leith Walk campaigners got an early taste of the Planning system’s complexities and frustrations this afternoon when they tried to present a petition opposing Drum Property’s development of 106–54 Stead’s Place. 

The petition has attracted some 12,200 signatures over the last 4 months. But councillors and officials on the Planning Committee refused to accept it. Since the planning application is now live, they could not be seen to be influenced by the document. Nor could they ask questions of the 3-person deputation which appeared before them at the same meeting. 

Bar rooms, kitchen tables and social media have been buzzing over recent months with conversations about the future of Leith in general and Leith Walk in particular. Spurtle is no expert on our friends north of Pilrig Street, but what happens to them clearly has ramifications for the rest of us. So, here’s an effort to set down some of the broad lines of a wide-ranging discussion, one which will continue for years to come.

Paperwork 5 is the fifth, annual, joint exhibition by three artists with quite different but complementary styles. 

It’s an independently minded collaboration marked by thoughtful attention and skilled application. Mounted in a Howe Street basement, it remains a space for quiet consideration, a satisfying respite from the clamour uphill. 

 TLC FOR THE PRESTRESSED 

After a hard day’s splashing about in the rain, do you sometimes feel you could do with your post-tensioned tendons being grouted, your bearings replaced, and/or your deck waterproofed?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you may begin to understand what it feels like to be St Mark’s Bridge at the moment.

This morning was a morning for the Edinburgh purist. 

The sort of person who can see beyond the drips on their nose and focus on the bigger picture, the longer view with which our August capital occasionally beguiles.

Below was the vista from a deserted Roof Terrace atop the National Museum of Scotland.

That’s North Berwick on the horizon. 

 PROBLEM PARKING FORCES DIVERSIONS 

Lothian Buses’ Service 11 was suspended along Pilrig Street on 9 August because parked vehicles were blocking access to stops and making it difficult for vehicles to pass. 

The service now diverts along McDonald and Broughton Roads.

NEW FILM BACKS MUSIC SCHOOL PLAN 

A visually stunning new video has appeared online asserting the merits of moving St Mary’s Music School into a restored and sympathetically extended old Royal High School (see HERE). 

High-profile supporters Alex McCall Smith and Nicola Benedetti feature in the short film produced by Rapid Visual Media for the Perfect Harmony campaign.

 OUTLINE PLANNING APPLICATION WITHDRAWN 

Yesterday, Royal Bank of Scotland unexpectedly withdrew its planning permission in principle application for a major new mixed development on Eyre Terrace/Dundas Street/Fettes Row/Royal Crescent (16/05454/PPP; Breaking news, 11.1.18).