Breaking news

Onlookers outside the Balmoral Hotel today could be forgiven for thinking that Rocco Forte had introduced a new, SAS-inspired initiative to speed-up room-service. 

In fact, the daring workers, in day-glo, Guantanamo Bay orange overalls, were either cleaning windows, preparing window frames, touching up render, reattaching loose stonework, or removing the Christmas lights. 

We put all five suggestions to various Balmoral staff this lunchtime, all of whom replied with an enigmatic smile and the catch-all explanation ‘refurbishment’.

 POLICE SEEK HELP AND RELEASE IMAGE 

Police Scotland issued the following press notice today. We reproduce it unedited and in full.

Police in Edinburgh investigating a serious assault in the city centre have released an image of a man they believe may be able to help with their inquiries.

The incident took place around 7.50pm on Saturday 3 February near to the Phoenix Bar on Broughton Street.

A 51-year-old man was assaulted and sustained serious facial injuries.

What began as a bad week for tree-lovers has continued with further sad news in Broughton today. 

Yesterday, work on the new Picardy Place gyratory was preceded by felling of the trees outside St Mary’s RC Cathedral. They were chopped in advance of the bird-nesting season. 

Today came news that a mature ash on Mansfield Place shows evidence of fruiting bodies of Armillaria (Honey Fungus). 

 CAMPAIGNER PETER WILLIAMSON REFLECTS 

On 25 January, the Council’s Transport & Environment Committee approved a revised design for Picardy Place centred upon a three-lane ‘gyratory’ traffic management system. 

Opposition to the possible move of Gaelic Medium Education (GME) to Drummond Community High School has stiffened.

Parent bodies at two primary feeder schools and Drummond itself have each issued strong statements against the proposal by the Council. (You can read the statements here, here and here. A statement from Abbeyhill parents has yet to materialise.) 

As you read this, the February Spurtle has not only rattled through the presses but leapt off the floor and into the arms of our black-spandex-clad ninja distribution operatives.

You won’t see or hear them, but over the next two days they’ll be fanning out across the barony and beyond, delivering hyper-local news from odd angles about and to the places other papers rarely reach.

Issue 270 begins with the elephant in the room, continues with a notable bear, and concludes by considering a potential cuckoo.

The whole kit and caboodle

Earlier this month we published a piece by Cllr Mary Campbell on how the Scottish Greens view the future of Gaelic Medium Education in Edinburgh.

Now it’s the turn of Cllr Callum Laidlaw, Conservative spokesperson on Education and a member of the Gaelic Implementation Group. 

Defining ‘best’ 

Every parent wants the best possible education for their children, and Edinburgh Council is committed to ‘getting it right for every child’. 

Proposals for a new gyratory on Picardy Place were approved at a meeting of the Transport & Environment Committee this morning. Councillors voted in favour by 9 votes to 2, with only the Scottish Greens against.

What follows is an impressionistic summary of the main points. For local-government enthusiasts whose Netflix subscriptions have run out, the whole meeting is available to enjoy here for free.

Deputations

 FIVE BIG HITTERS ON PICARDY PLACE AND WHY COUNCIL MUST THINK AGAIN 

Pressure has mounted on Transport and Environment Committee members as open letters, articles and social-media messages over the last week have articulated widespread public opposition to the Council's latest plans for Picardy Place. 

 LOCAL LANDMARK COULD GET SWALLOWED 

The Edinburgh-based Thistle Property Group has applied for planning permission to retain the façade of the old Canon Mill at 1-3 Canon Street and demolish the building behind.

They want to create 11 new flats (8 x 1-bedroom, 2 x 2-bedroom, 1 x 3-bedroom), with commercial space at ground-floor level (Ref. 17/05967/FUL).