Ema Sabljak

Dec 4, 2024 | thecourier.co.uk | Ema Sabljak

Last December, we launched our Perth High Street Tracker monitoring the pulse of the city centre. And it has been a busy year for the Fair City with the long-awaited opening of the Perth Museum in March and numerous changes on its high streets. In the past year, we have conducted a census of the city centre and St John’s Shopping Centre four times to find exactly which businesses occupy, or don’t occupy, its units. But how has Perth changed over the course of a year?

Oct 17, 2024 | thecourier.co.uk | Ema Sabljak

Storm Babet brought record-breaking rainfall to Tayside and Fife in October 2023. The Met Office issued an 18-hour red warning covering Angus from 6pm on October 19 2023, as Storm Babet hit with full force. The exceptional rainfall and severe flooding resulted in the death of at least seven people across the UK. Out of 270 stations, only 22 recorded more than 100mm of rain over the four-day period. However, 10 of those 22 stations were in Angus.

Sep 28, 2024 | pressandjournal.co.uk | Ema Sabljak

The area of Aberdeen covered by vacant and derelict land has more than doubled since 2016. More than 100 hectares of the Granite City is listed as vacant or derelict in the latest Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey (SVDLS). The land is spread across 65 distinct sites – or 32 more recorded derelict or vacant spaces than in 2016. With the number of sites steadily rising each year, we investigate if Aberdeen has a rising derelict and vacant land problem?

Sep 15, 2024 | pressandjournal.co.uk | Alastair Gossip |Ema Sabljak

Aberdeen’s “absentee” council chiefs made a hasty and drastic return to HQ after being condemned over their attendance record – or at least most of them did. Chief executive Angela Scott and city planning chief David Dunne have both upped Marischal College attendance after The Press and Journal revealed the extent of their working from home at the start of this year.

Sep 13, 2024 | pressandjournal.co.uk | Ema Sabljak

Two humpback whales and a pod of 280 dolphins were just a tiny fraction of the sea life spotted on Scottish ferry routes last year. More than 2,000 dolphins, whales and porpoises made a splash alongside CalMac ferries in 2023. New data has revealed those routes most popular with cetaceans. If you’re going whale watching in Scotland, these are the ferry routes that offer the best chance for a sea life spectacle. Marine conservation charity ORCA analysed more than 20,000 kilometres of ocean in 2023.