The Great Calton & Gate Swindle continues

Yes, The Development that incriminates it`s fans..., is back this season with a new song for them "dig, dig, dig, dig digging, dig an escape route for me"

The story so far

and today`s Evening News has a piece questioning the development???

They are in a hole so keep digging!

What The Dickens??

"You`ve got to knock a building down or two"

Well, like we often say here, you just couldn`t make it up....Manish Chande (above left with Mark Cummings his spin doctor) yes the infamous, London based speculative property developer who emptied homes and businesses in the pursuit of his wealth, aided and abbetted by other greedy people commissioned the great, great, grand daughter of Charles Dickens to paint his skewed vision of Edinburgh and the area he wanted to destroy in the Old Town with the scheme that was known as "Caltongate"









see the paintings for sale or rent here , there is no sign of the one with Manish in front of his lost empire....remember this Caltongate King Heads for Victory, and yes Mr Chande, you blatently lied in this piece


a modern day Dickens Classic in the making



Lies, greed, deceipt, hypocrisy, double standards, treating those with less with contempt.. the list is endless..corruption, selling off the family silver.......to be continued..

Answers from Council on Calton Hill

If you want information from the City of Edinburgh Council don't bother with an FOI, just get Brian Ferguson of the Scotsman to write a misleading article, see yesterday's post.

Remember it takes around 3 months with an FOI, remember when they were asked about the council homes they cleared on Caltongate developer Manish Chande's behalf...which they never got the rent for, now thats a scandal

FOI on Tenements at what do they know

Hill to stay open - letter in today's Scotsman

The claim of your report "Public faces Calton Hill ban at night in bid to cut crime" (15 September) is misleading. While Edinburgh council is drawing up plans for Calton Hill to preserve and protect the area for the enjoyment of residents and visitors, these do not include any proposal that it should be shut at night.

We are looking at ways to deal with antisocial behaviour and vandalism, and the closure of Carriage Drive to all vehicles earlier this summer has already contributed to a significant reduction in these problems, as well as ensuring pedestrian safety.
We want to promote the hill as a safe and well-maintained public space, making it cleaner, safer and more attractive, and it is simply not true that the council intends to restrict night-time access . CLLR ROBERT ALDRIDGE Environment leader City of Edinburgh Council

Mark Cummings - Invicta PR latest

From The Sunday Times by Jason Allardyce August 9, 2009

Labour candidate ‘was sent sectarian messages’

Lothian and Borders police are studying offensive text messages received by Dunfermline and West Fife candidate Thomas Docherty


Police are investigating allegations that a Scottish Labour candidate was subjected to sectarian abuse by text message.

Lothian and Borders police are studying text messages received by Thomas Docherty, who will contest Dunfermline and West Fife in the general election.
The messages, which contained a lyric from the so-called Famine song, were allegedly sent from a mobile telephone number belonging to Mark Cummings, a lobbyist. His clients have included Premier Property Group, a firm owned by David Murray, the Rangers chairman.

Two weeks ago, Docherty, a Catholic, received a message repeating a line from the Famine song which has been banned at Rangers’ Ibrox ground, and which was recently ruled by Scottish law lords to be racist. The song pillories people of Irish descent whose ancestors came to Britain to escape the potato famine which began in 1845.

The message to Docherty allegedly read: “The famine is over. Why don’t you go home? FTP.” FTP is commonly used as an abbreviation for the sectarian phrase F*** The Pope.

It is alleged that when Docherty texted the sender to check whether the message was intended for him, he received the reply: “Yes, because you are one of them.”

As a Labour candidate, Docherty is campaigning against a proposed major housing development in Dunfermline which Cummings’s firm, Edinburgh-based Invicta Public Affairs, is lobbying for.

In a statement, Cummings, director of Invicta, said: “I am aware of the matter as it has been brought to my attention. I am responding properly on a voluntary basis with the relevant authorities.

“This is a private matter that relates to me in a personal capacity only. It in no way relates to any commercial relationships that I have.”

A police spokesman said: “Police are investigating after a 34-year-old male received an offensive text message of sectarian nature.”

Docherty was unavailable for comment.

Mark Cummings pictured above with former client Manish Chande of Caltongate's Mountgrange.

Here is a bit of history on this man known throughout the country for his pr for developments on the whole unwanted by communities -

In Nairn he is well known see here

He worked with PPS who were the PR Company behind Developers Mountgrange (Caltongate) also Viridor Waste at Portobello.

The company`s motto is - "Call PPS if ...you need to undertake community consultation or if you feel your scheme may run into political or community opposition." hotlinehere

They featured in The Evening Standard in July 2007 in an article titled "Bugging, Bullying, Forgery: Property PR Tricks" EveningStandard30thjuly2007

See Dispatches Programme aired on Monday 30th July 2007 Scroll down page to find link to programme (PPS part starts at 16 minutes 50 seconds to 25 minutes 24 seconds) although all of programme worth watching!) On the 6th August 2007 another story concerning Mountgrange`s PR company PPS was published in EveningStandardaug07

In Private Eye issue no. 1192 31st August 2007 are Caltongate developers Mountgrange and their PR lobbying firm PPS to read article select your print preview and enlarge to 100% see here

"Mark Cummings the Scottish Director of PPS and Mountgrange`s spokesperson for the last two years or so left the company, 2 weeks after the Private Eye story was published in August. Now it appears he is still working for Mountgrange just under his new company name “Invicata”"

"Mark Cummings, the spin doctor who left controversial lobbying firm PPS this autumn, has landed a contract with PPS’s most high profile client in Scotland. Cummings worked on the Caltongate development account for PPS, but despite his departure was spotted at a meeting of the Caltongate Liaison Group last week. His new firm, Invicta Public Affairs, has now been taken on by Caltongate’s developer Manish Chande for what Cummings describes as “PR and public affairs, all the usual stuff”. Chande’s firm Mountgrange is expected to retain PPS’s services despite giving Invicta some work on the project." SOSarticle

Mountgrange wants a Divorce!

Breakdown of Caltongate marriage

By Steven Vass Sunday Herald 24th May 2009

THE DEVELOPER behind the collapsed £300 million Caltongate project in Edinburgh has indicated for the first time that it will not attempt to revive the project.

Manish Chande, co-owner of Mountgrange Capital, which was forced into administration by its banker Lloyds in March, told the Sunday Herald he was "close to divorce" from the project, expressing impatience with the planning delays and heritage objections that have dogged the four-year project.

Chande's decision to draw a line under Mountgrange's involvement in Caltongate comes as administrator Deloitte said it had held talks with other potential developers and that a deal could be "months if not weeks" away. This runs contrary to reports that Lloyds was leaning on the administrator to mothball the site until the commercial property market picked up in value.

Chande said of the development, which was to include a five-star hotel, more than 200 homes, offices, cafes, bars and a public square: "We have had our separation, and we are getting close to our divorce.

"We may not be the best buyer. After four years of work, we saw the issues that arose and we are perhaps slightly affected by it."

Chande's comments contradict speculation at the time of the Mountgrange Capital administration announcement that he and business partner Martin Myers would push to buy back the development from Deloitte at the earliest opportunity.

Chande responded that it was unlikely he and Myers would agree with the administrator's valuation of the site. Mountgrange Capital paid £20m for Caltongate in 2004, but it is not thought to be worth anything like that now.

John Reid, Deloitte's administrator for Caltongate, said he had not heard from Chande or Myers but added: "We have been talking to a number of other potential developers and expect to conclude within months if not weeks. It is our intention to move forward as quickly as we can."

Clearly The Evening News are not keeping up with divorce proceedings, with their front page headlines "Caltongate set to be revived by failed firm's ex-bosses"

The Great Calton & Gate Swindle part 2

Publicity shot for the forthcoming movie The Great Calton & Gate Swindle part 2

From an article in today`s Property Week

"Manish Chande and Martin Myers have re-emerged from the administration of Mountgrange Capital with £850m to spend on ‘the next big thing’

Martin Myers and Manish Chande reached the nadir of their careers in March with the administration of their company, Mountgrange Capital."

Myers says: ‘In the summer of 2006, we thought we would launch a fund and wind down the old Mountgrange – Mountgrange Capital – to launch the fund.

‘We saw autumn 2006 as the peak of the market and, although we did not anticipate the fall that we have seen, we saw that the market had reached its peak.’

Chande adds: ‘In autumn 2006 we saw the rate of growth beginning to slow.’"

Meanwhile here in the republic we are asking did the council officials and councillors know that they had no intention of continuing with the company that they had entered into a questionable land deal with? A Land deal which is currently being investigated by the EU?

If they did how was it that this information was not made known to the public?

Now we know all about what has been revealed in Westminster, surely now it is time to cast the net wider and increase transparency and accountability over decision making at local level.

Would the CEC consider selling off 'council land' at the bottom of the market to the same people just because they have changed their name and got money from different people?

A company which couldn't even cough up £18,ooo for council homes they had the council empty on their last round of pie in the sky promises?

also from article in Property week -

"So it seems remarkable that just weeks later a phoenix is rising from the ashes in the form of an £850m opportunity fund.

Chande and Myers, who have worked together since 1983, founding, running and selling Imry before the 1990 crash, and setting up Trillium, which they sold for £330m to Land Securities in 2000, suffered a bitter blow earlier this spring.

Their lender, Bank of Scotland Corporate, refused to lend a string of Mountgrange companies – including those developing the £300m Caltongate scheme in Edinburgh and the 160 acre Phoenix Park in Linwood, Paisley – any more money and, as the values of schemes continued to fall, they were forced into administration.

Among the assets sold by administrator Deloitte are horses from a stud farm that was owned by one of the Mountgrange companies, to raise money for creditors.

But it has now decided to hold on to the projects and is attempting to complete them to sell at a more profitable time.

Mountgrange owes £18,000 in Rent

Mountgrange`s Manish Chande and his spin doctor Mark Cummings legging it from Edinburgh, leaving behind them debts including £18,000 in council house rent arrears....

Remember how through an FOI we in the republic found out that Mountgrange were renting the council houses see here

Caltongate failure set to free up condemned flats for rent

Full Piece here 16 May 2009

"UNDER-THREAT council houses on the Canongate are set to be reused after the collapse of the Caltongate scheme.

Developer Mountgrange Capital was meant to be meeting the cost of the rent while the flats laid empty but council chiefs today admitted they failed to collect a single penny before Mountgrange went into administration in March.

The outstanding rent is thought to be around £18,000, with officials admitting they are not sure how they will recover that money.

Council chiefs said they intend to assess the flats to see what it would take to bring the properties up to a condition fit for rent.

The nine council flats were due to be bulldozed or partially demolished as part of the Caltongate project, which was sunk when Mountgrange's bankers pulled the plug.

A further nine private flats at 227-229 Canongate have been bought up by Mountgrange over the last two years and are now in the hands of the administrator Deloitte.

Campaigners today welcomed the chance of getting people back into the empty properties, particular in light of the city's affordable housing crisis.The Macrae Tenements on the Canongate, which are lying empty and have lost the city thousands in rent

Julie Logan, spokeswoman for the Save Our Old Town campaign group, said: "We are really pleased that the council has finally seen the sense of the recommendation that we made in our Canongate project report.

"There should not be a lot to do to these flats because a lot of them have had new doors and glazing, and also modernised inside in recent years.

"It will be good to get people into these homes, even on a temporary basis, and then start to have a proper look at what can be done with the area longer-term."

City leaders are trying to find firms to take on the gap site but it is thought it could be years before work gets underway.

A council spokeswoman said, "The council is considering options for bringing the nine flats back into temporary use until the future of the Caltongate development is known.

"A number of considerations need to be taken into account including the cost of bringing these properties up to rentable condition, and the timescale in which the new development is due to begin. If this proves to be feasible and cost effective, then bringing these properties back into use is a real possibility."

She added: "One of the terms Mountgrange had provisionally agreed to was they would cover the rent loss associated with the empty Council properties.

"However, as discussions are ongoing with the administrators, we are not in a position to say how this will money will be recovered.""

What now for New Street?

An inner city allotment idea, perhaps a possible part of the temporary solution for New Street see more here

The following piece by Ian Fraser in The Sunday Times 10 May 09 in which he is calling on the council to listen to the community and

"Let imagination grow

Edinburgh city council ought to become more imaginative. Owing to new-found caution at Lloyds Banking Group, there is now a massive hole-in-the-ground in the heart of the old town where Mountgrange had been hoping to erect its hugely unpopular Caltongate development.

According to property experts this is likely to remain a vacant site for at least the next three to four years.

So perhaps councillors should listen to local residents who have suggested that the cleared former bus garage should be turned into an adventure playground and allotments for Edinburgh’s younger generation — at least until administrator Deloitte manages to sell on the site. After all, play is a human right too."

Article here 4th May 09 in Eve News on suggestions for city gap site

Letter here to Evening News 7th May suggesting a playground for site

Below an inner city community playground, ideas from London Here

But of course the ideas for the site are endless, and in the meantime lets get pressure on the council to get tenants back into the cleared flats, has Manish Chande stopped paying the rent?

and lets get people back into the Canongate Venture and the Former veg market back into use. Lets get them maintaining our public spaces and buildings, not allow them to fall into disrepair because Mountgrange used to playing Bingo promised them the jackpot..

Red Bull gives you Caltongate

Almost ten years ago what was "Caltongate King" Manish Chande up to?
Drinking energy drinks and running past pop star`s houses. Nowadays he is throwing champagne receptions and renting 8 council houses from the City of Edinburgh Council, denying people in the capital a home.

"A £300m deal with Land Securities will make property chief Manish Chande a major construction client, but contractors aren't his favourite people.

It's just after lunch and Manish Chande breezes into the meeting room of his Barbican offices with a can of Red Bull in his hand. He's always drinking the stuff – not so much to quench thirst, he says, but to pump more caffeine into his system. It's virtually the secret of his success. "It keeps you going, especially if it's 11 o'clock at night and you've got to work late," he says."

"Lives In Hampstead – I run past Noel Gallagher's house, Supernova Heights, in Belsize Park most mornings.""

Full article here

Caltongate King rents 8 council flats in Canongate

Caltongate King piece

40,000 bids for council tenancies

The Future?

What does the future hold now that Mountgrange Capital has gone into administration? A new company with Manish at the helm once again? Check out The Times Rich List 2008 where you will see that Caltongate Developer Manish Chande is at 1118 with a personal fortune of £70m, so we doubt he will be shopping in Lidls anytime soon......just because one of his companies owes £70m?? One such company here (have a sick bag handy for the pics)
For the other couple of dozen or so go here and enter Mountgrange in search box


Catch up on the news with links below - and remember to come along next Wednesday evening to get involved in sustainable future at a Special "No Fools Allowed" SOOT meeting 7pm Old Saint Pauls Church Hall, Jeffrey Street on the 1st April

STV news piece 24th March 2009


BBC TV News Piece 24th March 2009

The Scotsman 25th March 2009

Magnus Linklater The Times Credit Crunch has left Edinburgh Full of Holes 25th March 2009

The Evening News -Editorial 25th March 2009

Caption competion

Do you have a caption for our competion?

The Mark of the Republic

We don't have Zorro in the Independent Republic of the Canongate but we have the next best thing we have a community and people who care - we don't need a masked man (though at times it would have been nice) to humiliate and deal with venture speculative developers, councillors and their officials who were duped by the lies and promises of big business.

Today The Republic heard that Mountgrange Capital has gone down the tubes. Read more here.

Pundits, sycophants and supporters of this Toy Town scheme mocked all of those who raised questions about the financial logic of this development based on ever increasing land prices and free and easy credit from the banking system, once those two things crashed the project was doomed. Caltongate was based on artists impressions of a architect's dystopian fantasy and those architects names must be etched on the tomb of Edinburgh's real disgrace - such as Richard Murphy, Allan Murray and Malcolm Fraser. Hopefully this Shakespearean tragedy will not be replayed over and over again.

The council used public money and council taxes to facilitate a big business plan for yet another Old Town development without looking at the needs and desires of the community.

The protesters and campaigners have been called liars and trouble makers for genuinely raising our concerns about lack of sustainable development and ignoring the community! More links here

Anyway to celebrate the defeat of Caltongate, the Independent Republic of the Canongate have launched a competition.

Do you have a caption for the following? - Manish Chande, Director of Mountgrange with his spin doctor side kick Mark Cummings on hearing today's news. Best caption will be given freedom of the Canongate.

The Great Calton & Gate Swindle

Caltongate The Movie

STARRING


"The Developers"

Manish "Its a 5 star hotel or nothing" Chande

&

Martin "The Silent One" Myers

"The Cooncil"

Jenny ""Its grotesque and hideous, lets approve it" Dawe present city leader

Jim "laugh a minute" Lowrie present planning convenor

Donald " How I made Edinburgh"" Anderson, former City Leader, now Director of Mountgrange`s PR firm PPS Group Scotland












Trevor " the finger " Davies, former planning convenor

"The Architects"

Allan "Caltongate or Edinburgh must die " Murray

Malcolm "heritage bodies are toxic " Fraser


co starrring

Spin Doctor
Mark "Never Beaten PR" Cummings

Ron "rent a gob" Hewitt, Head of Chamber of Commerce


Historic Scotland

Architecture Design Scotland

to be continued.................

Caltongate Rent Scandal

Caltongate King rents 8 council flats as he admits that he can`t afford to build his own luxury ones yet....

In these uncertain economic times when there are nearly half a million bids for 2700 council homes in the capital, Save Our Old Town campaigners are demanding answers to the social injustices being committed by the council and their partner in Caltongate, London property developers Mountgrange. Campaigner Catriona Grant finally received an answer (see attachment) to a FOI to the City of Edinburgh Council which was lodged in October 2008, almost 3 months later on Friday 9th January. FOI

The answer that Mountgrange are renting these 8 flats now lying empty in this the year of Homecoming, is a slap in the face for those in Edinburgh in desperate need of a home. The descendants of past clearances are being asked to return while our own council is clearing our homes for a rich man`s benefit!

Last week a Norwich council chief was sacked for clearing out old age pensioners from their homes and putting herself, her lover and her pals in.

In last weeks Sunday Herald it was reported that Mountgrange admitted there is no cash secured to build the residential part of the Caltongate scheme, does this mean our council homes are going to be filled with Mountgrange Millionaires and their pals?

Today the Evening News printed this -

Builders pay city to keep flats empty

Caltongate King piece

40,000 bids for council tenancies

Scotland the Theme Park?

Scotland`s people should be heard in the National Planning Framework

Otherwise there may be more Caltongates, unnessary demolitions, more clearances, more erosion of our heritage and culture in the name of greed and development, everyone should be listened to , not just the Manish Chandes and Donald Trumps of this world.

Look at what greed and selfishness has reaped from the last ten years....the worse is still to come. Do we want to be a sad little theme park with the natives serving the visitors as they fly into airports that used to be our farm, homes, heritage and countryside....

What is the National Planning Framework?

You may be aware of the NPF and its importance to all planning decisions.

It is the most important planning document in Scotland today because it sets out what is going to happen in Scotland over the next 20 years.

The NPF is a legal document, once it has established that there is a need for development in a certain area there will be very little you will be able to do to stop it.

All you will be able to do is to influence where it goes and what it looks like.

There are 12 national developments stated in the document. These developments are very likely to go ahead as the NPF effectively removes the ability to question the "need" for the development through any subsequent planning process.

They include airport expansion, the Beauly Denny overhead transmission line and new coal fired power stations amongst others.

So get involved, as an individual or as a group, act before Monday the 12th of January but if you can`t then send it anyway, better late than never......

ACT NOW

How to Give Evidence to the Committee who are Scrutinizing the NPF Document Written views of no more than six sides of A4 can be sent by e-mail to

lgc.committee@scottish.parliament.uk.

You can submit evidence in hard copy to -

The Clerk to the Local Government and Communities Committee
Room T3.40
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

The Local Government and Communities Committee are looking at the NPF document over the next 60 days (they will finish the first week of March). They have asked for people to give evidence by 12th January 2009.

They are asking specific questions these can be viewed here.


One of the key questions they ask is

‘Whether the policies set out in the NPF2 support the Government's key aims for the development of Scotland to 2030’.

You can write to them saying that the lack of consultation means that they do not fulfill one of the key aims of the strategy for Scotland ’s spatial development to 2030:

to help build safer, stronger and healthier communities, by promoting
improved opportunities and a better quality of life.

If you want to see all of the key aims see para 43 on page 11 of the final NPF document which can be found here


You can argue that the evidence found from your own experience and others does not fulfill this aim.

Community participation in the planning system is a key part of building safer and stronger communities.

People have a right to influence strategic documents and plans such as the NPF, however the NPF consultation process has not enabled people to do this.

You can quote the Government’s own guidance which states that

‘many people believe that there are barriers to engagement in the planning system, inaccessibility of documents complex procedures, lack of expertise; consultation fatigue; belief that views are not taken into account and distrust of local Government. We need to change all of this. We now have a golden opportunity to create a planning system which Scotland can be proud of- modern, efficient and above all with communities at its heart’ (PAN 81 on Community Engagement 2007)

You can ask MSPs to look at the Critique of the National Planning Framework (NPF) Consultation Process report on the way the consultation was carried out and see the evidence that it has not addressed these key barriers to community engagement.

In September 2006 Scots writer Alasdair Gray said"Mrs Thatcher called upon the Scots to start exploiting their natural resources, not meaning that they should learn to produce good food, clothes and housing for each other, but earn the money to buy these from tourist industries, thus becoming a nation of boarding houses, heritage trails, golf courses and summer schools, with business conference centres in some of the prettiest places, with nuclear submarine and airforce bases in others. New Labour continues this policy, while drug addiction and brutal crime grow worse in once hopeful housing schemes that are now our new slums. There may be small nations in the world with effective democratic constitutions. Scotland is not among them, perhaps not England either. "

2009 What is an SNP led government going to do?

Caltongate not to happen?

Above a blast from the past in 2006, with our Canongate Coo in front of the Macrae tenements emptied for greedy property developer`s Mountgrange, who planted perspex cows all over the city with their name on it for the Cow Parade that year.

Word on the street is that the council are re-populating the empty council tenancies that they emptied on behalf on Mountgrange, so they could knock them down for their French run Accor Caltongate luxury 5 star hotel.

But now in these uncertain global economic times, it looks like they are listening to folk like us and housing the citys`s residents, which is their first priority, instead of pandering to London resident Manish Chande demands.

The council have still not answered a FOI request from October on the council tenancies at 221 and 227 Canongate. See Here

See SOOT`s 2008`s Hogmanay Protest outside empty homes

Caltongate Cash Cows

Caltongate developer Manish Chande wheels his "Brave Moo" through Princes Street gardens at the launch of the Cow Parade Edinburgh in 2006.

The following article appears in the Winter edition of Edinburgh`s Southsider, out today.

In the autumn issue of The Southsider we told you that Edinburgh was to receive a visit from a UNESCO mission in November. The city is the most likely World Heritage Site in the UK to be placed on their danger list. This is due to the level of concern raised about proposed developments - Caltongate, Haymarket, St James Centre and the Waterfront and their impact on the Outstanding Universal Values of the World Heritage Site.

Save Our Old Town and others throughout the city concerned with her future believe that the main things the inspectors took away, was an understanding of the problems raised by developers drawing up master plans and development briefs for sites, and the enormous pride and understanding of the city held by her residents.

The inspectors will report back informally to Historic Scotland in February, so that they can check facts and get any responses or changes underway, and then the report will be published in time for the UNESCO summit in Seville, next summer.

Caltongate developers Mountgrange`s Brave Moo cow was placed opposite the Council`s City Chambers on The High Street part of The Royal Mile.....

Caltongate developers Mountgrange, told newspapers recently, that they thought UNESCO an “irrelevance” and that they were not interested in its view on their development.
As we have found they have not been interested in the community’s views or anyone else’s for that matter either, so why listen to an international organisation?

Now with an economy very different to the one, when the plans were first unveiled in 2005, perhaps those other views on the city and how she develops will now become relevant as they should always have been.

The days of get rich quick property developers are now over, and as TV property programmes are having to adapt and rethink their ethos so must the City of Edinburgh Council.

Perhaps presenter George Clarke from the channel 4 Home Show should be telling them
“Its time to stop seeing Edinburgh as a cash cow and wake up to the fact that – first and foremost – your city is your home”

Mountgrange`s Caltongate cow placed in Hunter Square on The Royal Mile. Showing the lovely development. All Caltongate cows proudly displayed their sponsors name.

Lets look forward to 2009, not only as the Year of Home Coming Scotland, which will see descendents of Scots visit from all over the world, but also the Year of Being Home and where being proud and involved in your town or city is seen as a positive thing and not scornfully pushed aside.

12 Days Of Christmas from SOOT

Its almost that time of year once again, time for a trip down memory lane........or have they privatised that now???

A SENIOR city councillor has landed himself in hot water by making an obscene one-fingered gesture to carol-singing protesters.

Remember that from December 2006?

Full story here -Councillor in One Finger Salute

Below is one of the carols adapted and sung by a group of Save Our Old Town Campaigners as councillors and other officials entered a champagne reception hosted by Caltongate Developers Mountgrange at The Fruitmarket Gallery on Market Street, close to the proposed development.

Mountgrange director Manish Chande, lied in the press in May this year (2008). He claimed that the wife of Trevor Davie had verbal abuse shouted at her from one of the carol singing campaingers . We are still awaiting a retraction of this blatent lie.Full story here

On the twelfth day of Christmas My council sent to me:

Twelve diggers digging

Eleven planners planning

Ten global chain stores

Nine builders building

Eight PR spinners

Seven legal experts

Six cows a conning

A five star hotel

Four wrecking balls





Three cheap homes

Two office blocks

And Mountgrange with a Masterplan