February 22 2008

A look at some of the top stories in this week’s papers:

Demonstrators held a minute’s silence at Pollock Country Park earlier this week as part of their ongoing protest against Go Ape’s proposals for an adventure playground on public land (The Herald).

Construction group Balfour Beatty is set to earn around £134 million by the time it finishes its work painting and restoring the Forth Bridge (The Scotsman).

New council houses are to be built in north-east Scotland for the first time in over a decade, as Aberdeenshire Council is planning to build 50 in an effort to reduce its waiting list of 6,500 (The Herald).

Martin Ford, the councillor removed from his post after his casting vote rejected Donald Trump’s £1billion golf resort, has claimed that he was being treated like the “victim of a political purge in a totalitarian regime” as the row over the plans continued in his group email to fellow councillors (The Scotsman).

The family cottage of Flora MacDonald, the woman who aided Bonnie Prince Charlie’s flight after Culloden, has been sold as part of a hotel deal worth £1.4million. The cottage will now provide an annexe to the Flodiggary Country House Hotel on Skye (The Herald).

Sir David Murray’s Premiere Property Group (PPG) has increased its activity in Aberdeen with the acquisition of mixed use development Caledonian House for £8.5million (The Scotsman).

Alistair McKever, the operator of a string of hotels and homeless accommodations, has revealed that his company has acquired the Gables Hotel in Gretna for £2million (The Herald).

Listed property company Terrace Hill has announced that it still plans to float its Scottish house building division but warned that market conditions were not suitable for the move at present (The Scotsman).

According to an analysis by the chief economist of investment bank Morgan Stanley, David Miles, as little as half of the house price rises of the last decade were due to fundamental factors such as rising incomes and has warned of further hikes in mortgage costs (The Herald).

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