John McLellan: Council blind to planning problems

Without any irony, council leader Adam McVey has welcomed the Scottish Government's intervention to sort out ongoing problems in Edinburgh's building standards department.

“They have a huge amount of experience in this area and our team can only benefit from their expertise and advice,” he said.

Cliff Hague: How good planning saved Scotland

So one of Scotland’s biggest building control departments, with decades of experience dealing with complex applications in a historic capital city, needs advice about handling its workload? By any stretch of the imagination this points to significant unaddressed problems going back many years, and far from a helping hand this suggests government exasperation.

Taking on two or three extra staff might get the department close to meeting its basic responsibilities, but turning it into a streamlined service which helps attract investment will need a lot more attention from an administration seemingly blind to the problem. Maybe a campaign for the Chamber of Commerce?