Five things you need to know today

Scottish councillors may be set to receive big pay rises of over 15% recommended by the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee, meaning that Council Leader Jenny Dawe could be entitled to  a salary of £63,000. Many papers carry this story including The Herald and The Express. You may also read the review document on The Scottish Government website.

Edinburgh Council has confirmed at MIPIM (‘the real estate conference’) that a deal will be concluded with the European family hotel chain, Motel One.

A 208-room hotel will be developed by the German company in the heart of the city, occupying former council offices at Advocate’s Close (corner of Cockburn Street / Market Street).

This represents strategic expansion for the fast-growing operator of budget hotels who have expressed a desire to accelerate their expansion into key European centres. This will become its first hotel outside Germany and Austria.

The City of Edinburgh Council is also said to be facilitating interest in a second Motel One location within the city.

Speaking from the MIPIM stand, Steve McGavin, Head of Physical Development at the City of Edinburgh Council said: -“This is great news for the city, representative of the confidence in Edinburgh’s unique offer and in the phenomenal visitor pull that the city has. With business tourism on the rise and accolades such as Tripadvisor’s most recent award, Edinburgh is looking forward to exciting months ahead.”

The Guardian Edinburgh tells you the story behind the story of the nursery school closures decided upon yesterday by The City of Edinburgh Council. Both High School Yards Nursery and Princess Elizabeth Nursery School have been recommended by the council to close at the end of this school year.

The Edinburgh Evening News carried a story yesterday about the plans by developer, DHP to develop the Odeon site into a hotel, and stated that Councillor Ian Perry had tabled a question at yesterday’s council meeting about the site. That question was however withdrawn so the fate of the site is still unknown.

There is a fireworks and film event taking place on Saturday night to draw attention to alternative plans for the former cinema. You can get details on the Southside Community Council’s website.

And The Herald reports the story of Sir Fred Goodwin who has apparently obtained a super-injunction which prevents anyone calling him a ‘banker’……….although goes on to explain that since the matter has now been discussed at Westminster the press is now able to report on the matter…. Have you seen any of the Tweets about this? Please forward them to us! @EdinReporter