The votes of Conservative and Labour councillors blocked an attempt to give all 45 members of Aberdeen City Council the chance to have their say on whether or not to reopen central Union Street.

People have told me how angry they are that the City Council did not even discuss the reopening of central Union Street to at least buses and taxis when it met on Monday 13th December.

The Scottish Government’s new law on fire alarms requires all homes – owned or rented – to have interlinked smoke and heat alarms installed by February 2022.

Council street cleaning staff have now started the work of clearing fallen leaves from pavements and street gutters across Aberdeen. To work as efficiently as possible, they do this area by area.

Sadly, a Council committee meeting on Wednesday 26th August rejected a Liberal Democrat proposal to remove both the “Spaces for People” changes in the city centre and the hospitality marquees in bus lanes.

Councillors will be asked on Wednesday 25th August to decide on a proposal from Council staff to leave city centre “Spaces for People” changes in place indefinitely. Councillors are also being asked to allow the marquees in Union Street’s bus lanes to remain in place until March next year.

The City Council is currently seeking people’s views on proposals for a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) in the city centre. The LEZ would limit access to the city centre for some older cars and vans. People have until 22nd August to have their say on these proposals.

I have been contacted by a number of people very concerned about breaches of the COVID-19 rules in Soul Bar’s “The Draft Project” during the Scotland – Serbia football match on Thursday 12th November. Many people referred to videos circulating widely on social media.

Councillors had their first chance to publicly discuss the temporary “Spaces for People” changes made to road layouts in the city centre and elsewhere at council committee meeting on Wednesday 28th October.

The Scottish Government has announced that it is going to ask Parliament to delay the introduction of new requirements for smoke, heat and carbon monoxide detectors in homes in Scotland until February 2022. The new regulations were due to come into force from February 2021.