| Modern Scot - 23/07/2026 · Issue 007 |
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 | | Community · 23 July 2026 £1.5m Tennis and Padel Centre to Open at Galashiels Academy in Early 2027 Three covered artificial-clay tennis courts and two padel courts will be built beside the new Galashiels Academy campus, creating the first year-round covered tennis provision in the Scottish Borders. Work is due to begin on a new tennis and padel… |
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 | | Community · 23 July 2026 Renfrewshire Establishes Annual Dolly Parton Day After Delivering 230,000 Children’s Books The first official celebration will take place on 25 September, marking the growth of a locally funded reading programme that sends a book each month to children aged two to five. Renfrewshire will hold its first official Dolly Parton Day… |
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 | | Community · 23 July 2026 Officers Begin Daily Perth City Centre Patrols Police Scotland has assigned officers to weekday city-centre patrols, while new council enforcement staff are expected to extend coverage across Perth and Kinross from August. Police Scotland officers have begun daily weekday patrols in Perth city centre as part of… |
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 | | Community · 23 July 2026 Orkney Dialect Takes Centre Stage at Kirbuster Farm Museum Tom Rendall and Neil Leask will explore farming words, weather, poetry and Norse-rooted place names during a free event at one of Orkney’s oldest surviving farm buildings. The changing language of everyday Orkney life will be heard in its spoken… |
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 | | Community · 23 July 2026 Norman Rendall Retires After 20 Years at Orkney Council Headquarters The senior caretaker has been thanked for two decades of work keeping the council’s School Place offices running behind the scenes. Senior caretaker Norman Rendall has retired from Orkney Islands Council after 20 years at its School Place headquarters in… |
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 | | Economy · 23 July 2026 Public Grant Helped Bring Post Office Back to Motherwell After Three-Year Gap The new branch opened on Brandon Parade East in March, creating four jobs and restoring postal, parcel and cash services to the town centre. The amount of public funding awarded has not been disclosed. A Post Office has returned to… |
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 | | Transport · 23 July 2026 Arran Road Improvement Programme Under Way as Summer Closures Continue The first daytime closure on the B880 String Road entered its second day on Thursday, with further work planned at Machrie, Dougarie and the Ross through to 27 August. A five-week programme of road improvements is under way on Arran,… |
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 | | Infrastructure · 23 July 2026 Scotland Produces 30 Million Tonnes of Construction Materials but Cannot Show How Long Supplies Will Last More than 200 mineral-product sites supply the stone, sand, concrete and asphalt used across Scotland, but public records do not provide a current national account of active quarries, remaining permitted reserves or regional supply. Scotland’s plans for homes, roads, power… |
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 | | Energy · 23 July 2026 Scotland’s Energy Backlog Grows as UK Prepares to Favour Strategic Data Centres Nearly two-thirds of Scotland’s live energy applications have remained in the consenting system for more than a year while the UK Government develops rules that could reserve or reallocate network capacity for selected data centres and AI Growth Zones. Scotland… |
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 | | Heritage and Arts · 23 July 2026 Kenneth Branagh to Defend Highland Estate from American Billionaire in New Paramount+ Drama Laird will place an inherited Scottish estate at the centre of a battle over foreign wealth, family power and control of the land, although Paramount has not yet confirmed that the series will be filmed in Scotland. Kenneth Branagh is… |
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 | | Community · 22 July 2026 Volunteers and Leaders Join Forces to Widen Opportunities for Youth Volunteers and school leaders from Lewis, Harris and Benbecula have met in Stornoway to examine how distance, limited local provision and the practical demands of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award can be managed more fairly across the islands. A national… |
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 | | Heritage and Arts · 22 July 2026 Nolan Blockbuster Places Scotland’s North-east Coast Before Global Audience Findlater Castle, Sunnyside Beach and Culbin appear in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which opened with worldwide ticket sales of almost $264 million. Moray and Aberdeenshire are now trying to turn brief screen exposure into visits, local spending and a longer… |
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 | | Community · 22 July 2026 Gorebridge Couple Mark 60 Years of Marriage Wallace and Susan Clark have celebrated their Diamond Wedding anniversary at the Birkenside home where they have lived for more than half a century. A Gorebridge couple have received congratulations from the King after reaching their 60th wedding anniversary. Wallace… |
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 | | Economy · 22 July 2026 Inverclyde Offers Cash Grants in Attempt to Slow Population Decline One-off grants of up to £400 have been introduced to encourage people to remain in or move to Inverclyde, where the population has fallen by about 22,000 since 1981. Inverclyde Council has launched two small grant schemes as part of… |
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 | | Community · 22 July 2026 George Square Reopening Delayed Families will be invited into traffic-free streets around George Square in early September as Glasgow marks the reopening of the western section of the city-centre landmark. The event, planned for the first weekend of September, will include street play and… |
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 | | Infrastructure · 22 July 2026 Caledonia Wind Farms Secure Consent for 140 Turbines in Moray Firth Scottish ministers have approved two offshore wind farms with a combined anticipated capacity of 2GW. The decision removes a major regulatory barrier, but construction still depends on a seabird compensation plan, a UK electricity contract, final investment approval, finance and… |
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 | | Infrastructure · 22 July 2026 Glasgow Power Network Under Enhanced Monitoring Ahead of Commonwealth Games SP Energy Networks has introduced additional engineering support and trialled mobile fault-detection technology before the Games begin on Thursday. The measures may help engineers identify hidden electrical hazards, but the company’s public announcement does not provide its forecast for additional… |
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 | | Economy · 22 July 2026 Scottish Ministers Disclose Scale of Opposition to Kintore–Tealing Power Line More than 10,000 people and organisations were notified that they had a right to participate in the examination of SSEN Transmission’s proposed power line between Aberdeenshire and Angus. The project is intended to remove constraints on Scotland’s electricity network, but… |
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 | | Policy and Government · 22 July 2026 Legal Aid Reform Promises a Planned System but Does Not Guarantee Access to a Lawyer Ministers are proposing simpler applications, greater freedom for accredited solicitors and stronger powers to direct services towards areas where private firms are unavailable. The consultation does not immediately widen eligibility or say how many additional practitioners would be secured in… |
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 | | Highland · 22 July 2026 Cairngorms Wildfire Enters Second Week Around 10 square kilometres of land have been affected across Glenmore and Abernethy, while emergency crews warn that the incident remains active despite progress containing its spread. The wildfire burning across the Cairngorms National Park has entered its second week,… |
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 | | Policy and Government · 21 July 2026 Burnham Closes Door on Scottish Referendum in First Call with Swinney The new Prime Minister promised deeper devolution and more pragmatic relations with Holyrood, but made clear that his government was not preparing to transfer the power required for another independence vote. The language of co-operation lasted three paragraphs. By the… |
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 | | Transport · 20 July 2026 Corran Ferry Infrastructure Works Move into Marine Phase Construction work on the £30 million Corran Ferry Infrastructure Improvement Scheme has moved into its main marine phase, five months after work began at Nether Lochaber and Ardgour. The project, funded through the Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal, includes £20… |
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 | | Community · 20 July 2026 Performers Rally Behind Aberdeen Arts Centre More than 100 performers from across north-east Scotland will take part in two fundraising shows this autumn as Aberdeen Arts Centre continues its three-year campaign to secure the venue’s future. The Big Variety Show will be held on Friday 2… |
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 | | Economy · 20 July 2026 If the AI Bubble Bursts, What Happens to Scotland Editor’s Note: This investigation concerns more than the financial risk of an AI bubble. Data centres depend upon AI companies, while much of the commercial AI economy depends upon a continuing supply of human-created work, human behaviour, personal information, professional… |
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 | | Infrastructure · 17 July 2026 SaxaVord Reaches Launch Point SaxaVord has reached a pivotal launch point, prompting Unst to critically assess the potential gains, restrictions, and risks associated with the ambitious project. As Shetland eyes the space industry, local stakeholders are weighing the economic benefits against environmental and logistical… |
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 | | Tea With Gunns · 18 July 2026 Mrs Gunn and the Postie Apocalypse At eleven minutes past two, my mobile informed me that a parcel had been delivered. This was encouraging, as I had been at home all afternoon and had heard neither a van nor a knock at the door. The animals… |
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