An item of "Breaking News". Will appear on the Breaking News page and the front page.
Royal Bank of Scotland seeks planning consent for internal and external changes to its NatWest premises at 8 George Street (Ref. 19/04619/FUL).
The changes include removal of NatWest signage and cash machines. However, a spokesperson emphasised to Spurtle this morning that a NatWest presence will continue in the city centre:
An autograph book, compiled between 1897 and 1933 and containing the signatures of roughly 300 historic celebrities, will be sold on 9 October to raise funds for Poppy Scotland.
The collection contains monickers and messages by ‘leaders in every sphere of thought and actions – Great Politicians, Scientists, Authors, Preachers, Musicians, Actors, Explorers, Philosophers, Painters, Captains of Industry &c &c.’
KEASIM Events Limited seeks temporary planning consent for the erection of a festival village on the roof of the Waverley Mall this winter (Refs 19/03943/FUL; 19/03872/LBC).
In other words, Malone’s on the Mall etc. – Edinburgh’s answer to a Gold Rush shanty town – is angling to return.
Essential Edinburgh, on behalf of the owners, has urgently sought and received the Council’s go-ahead for treeworks in St Andrew Square Gardens (19/04570/TCO).
Seven trees are affected: sycamore (T0443); Swedish whitebeam (TO450, TO452 and TO465); weeping ash (T0454); wild cherry (TO489); Japanese cherry (TO492). They are estimated to range in age from 10–90 years old.
Now that the colder weather is upon us, many readers are doubtless looking for simple, wholesome, and comforting meals the whole family will enjoy without breaking the bank.
From time to time, the Spurtle receives unexpected letters from readers which raise the spirits and make us whoop for joy.
So it was that, last month, local resident Mr Eric Robertson sent us a photo of this superb watercolour which he thought might be of interest to us.
Long-term readers will know that I have frequently highlighted the significance of the ‘Broughton Boy’ sculpture originally sited atop the former George Heriot’s School building at 32 Broughton Street.
As you read this, advanced copies of October’s Spurtle are already knocking at doors in the barony like an AirBnB guest arriving 24 hours too early.
Page 1 begins with a gentle rattling of the key safe and some disapproving tuts concerning pipework. It continues with muttering about money, a threat of kerbside discontent, pessimistic outpourings, and a determination to hold someone to account.
As the recent Save Leith Walk campaign showed to stunning effect, organised locals can make a difference.
But rather than starting from scratch each time a prospective new development comes along, local activists are now getting on the front foot with a longer-term approach.
They’re preparing to draw up principles which could guide how Leith (a description loosely used to describe an area from the Forth to London Road) preserves and progresses in ways which reflect residents’ own aspirations.
Broughton Scouts and Lothian Motor Coaches combined yesterday to whisk 50 local Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and adult leaders to their centenary camp in Dunkeld.
Both organisations are celebrating 100 years of serving the East of the City Centre.
Scout Leader Scott Richards told the Spurtle, ‘It's great to be leaving for camp on a Lothian coach, as generations of Broughton Scouts have done down through the years.
PUBLIC DISCUSS SOLUTIONS TO MAJOR PROBLEMS
Earlier this week, the Cockburn Association held the second of a potential five Soapbox Sessions in which members of the public consider and comment on a variety of important challenges facing Edinburgh: ‘Our Unique City’.
The aim is to gauge opinion in advance of the Council’s consultation in December, which will inform a new strategic City Plan 2030 for the coming decade.