Breaking news

Residents in Hillside Crescent at the eastern junction with London Road have appealed directly to black cabs, private hire cars, coaches and other commercial vehicles to stop laying up at all hours of the day and especially through the night.

Residents contacted the cab companies through the dedicated police Cab Inspector to remind them of their social and environmental responsibilities (these are often listed on the companies' own websites), and that designated laying-up areas for taxis and other commercial vehicles are available nearby.

Planning consent has been granted for the erection of two new mews flats in the gardens of Nos 60 and 62 Great King Street (Ref. 12/03869/FUL). The properties will be accessed from S.W. Cumberland Street Lane.

Glen, the firework-averse dog missing from Broughton since Hogmanay, has been found safe and well (Breaking news, 2.1.13).

Hogmanay went with a bang in Broughton, which was all very good fun for we sophisticated urban types.

It wasn't so much fun for a timid, country dog who was visiting the area with friends and got the fright of his life.

Glen – a 1-year-old, black-and-white Border Collie – took off at high speed along Dundonald Street at around 11.30pm and has not been seen since. He could now be just about anywhere, but was last seen heading south towards Inverleith or Trinity.

Earlier this year, the City of Edinburgh Council consulted the public on changes to public entertainment licensing laws made by the Scottish Government. The consultation was to make sure the laws were used here in an appropriate and balanced way.

In response to that consultation, the Council has now set out a draft set of new rules, and wants to know your opinion about some of the ones intended to help community organisations.

These include:

As reported in Breaking news (6.11.12), plans are afoot to modify L'Epicerie (downstairs from L'Escargot Bleu) at 56/56a Broughton Street (Ref. 12/04352/FUL).

New Council arrangements for refuse collection over the Festive period have been posted  online.

We suggest there is fun for all the family to be had in getting a refreshed loved one to read out and explain the instructions after Christmas lunch.

For a fun-free and marginally more intelligible version, read on.

There will be no collections of green and food-waste bins on 25–6 December and 1–3 January. Collections will instead take place at weekends as follows:

Reader Sandy Buchanan photographed this wintry scene at the corner of Broughton Street and Broughton Place whilst on his way to work this morning.

It looks, he observes, 'as though several kittens have lost their mittens'.

For those smelling a rat but unfamiliar with Mr Buchanan's allusion, we recommend this slightly disturbing performance, and an interesting article on wikipedia. 

A new campaign called Winter Weather Watch wants Broughton residents to help monitor how well the Council cares for vulnerable older people in severe weather, and to what extent it succeeds in not letting them become isolated from their commuity and vital public services. 

Much of Edinburgh received its first dusting of snow this morning, and in pleasurable anticipation of things getting much worse, Spurtle has been burrowing in the Council website for useful information.

An interactive, zoomable map with listings is available here to identify grit bin locations and priority road and pavement gritting routes across the city.