An item of "Breaking News". Will appear on the Breaking News page and the front page.
The hunt is still on for Alfie – the young cat who went missing from Bellevue Place back in September.
Anyone around Broughton with a passing interest in lampposts will by now have seen one of the dozens of notices put up by Alfie’s concerned owner all over the neighbourhood.
Her poster campaign has resulted in several responses, with possible sightings as far afield as McDonald Road in the weeks and months since his disappearance. But still no Alfie.
Those who want to protect the old, low-rise building at 1–6 Canonmills Bridge from demolition and redevelopment have launched a new phase of their campaign.
Following the Scottish Government reporter’s decision to support Glovart Investments Ltd's appeal last month (see Breaking news, 29.1,16; 1.2.16), they are now urging supporters to e-mail elected representatives in a storm of protest.
Councillors on the Development Management Sub-Committee this morning unanimously voted to refuse planning permission for eight semi-detached dwellings in four blocks on ‘backland’ south of Broughton Road (Ref. 15/02335/FUL).
As reported here last week, an official report had earlier recommended refusal on grounds including scale, access, spatial character, housing density, loss of privacy, and residential amenity now and in the future.
Dear old gent passing by, / Something nice takes his eye. / Everything's clear, attack the rear. / Get in and pick a pocket or two.
So advised Fagin in the 1963 musical Oliver! Closer to home and 196 years earlier (or 71 years before the events of Charles Dickens's 1838 Oliver Twist), three enterprising locals were getting their come-uppances for similar acts of (by today's standards) petty crime.
The following account comes from the Caledonian Mercury of 19 January 1767:
This early-mature tree in the grounds of the Territorial Army garage on East Claremont Street has been diagnosed with Dutch Elm Disease (DED) and needs to be taken down.
Although it hasn’t issued an enforcement order for sanitary felling, the Council strongly recommends this course of action since the owner might be liable for any damages or injuries caused by falling dead branches.
The new Community Cinema in the middle of Broughton continues this coming Friday with two screeenings aimed at children and families in the afternoon, and adults in the evening.
Below, programmers James Mooney and Rory Bonass preview what's in store.
Amélie (2001), 122 minutes, Certificate 15
ST ANDREW SQUARE: 'EVERYTHING IS TURNING INTO A BURLESQUE FARANDOLE'
There are some – not very many, it seems, but some – who think we may have been too harsh on KEYFRAMES.
They feel we didn't fully appreciate the merits of the light-show currently brightening up St Andrew Square in yesterday's article.
‘One of Edinburgh’s iconic gardens has been invaded by nocturnal stick-figures as part of an art installation […].’
Not our words, but those of a Council press release. We agree wholeheartedly with the term ‘invaded’.
This tawdry stunt called KEYFRAMES lights up sequentially in the dark to create the illusion of movement. But at all times of the day and night, it interrupts, distracts from and diminshes a civic space at the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
An official report which is due to go before councillors on 10 February recommmends refusal of planning consent for housing on backland adjacent to 32–62 Broughton Road (Ref. 15/02335/FUL; see Breaking news, 25.1.16).
DOGGED DOES IT WHEN IT COMES TO REPORTING RUBBISH
Back in August, Transport & Environment Convener Lesley Hinds responded in person on social media to widespread local frustration that formal complaints about missed rubbish uplifts and fly tipping were going unheeded by the Council.
She invited readers to Tweet or email her directly, promising that she would personally see to it that the necessary jobs got done.