Former councillor's outlandish dispute with Borders authority

EXCLUSIVE by OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EDITOR

A bizarre planning wrangle involving a former member of Scottish Borders Council's executive committee and the local authority, and featuring long lost paperwork and a sworn affidavit by a 94-year-old landowner has ended with a ruling in favour of SBC.

Nicholas Watson, leader of the Borders Party from 2007 until he left the area in 2013, had hoped a Scottish Government planning reporter would overturn the refusal by council officials to issue a so-called Certificate of Lawful Use so that Mr Watson and his three brothers could build a second cottage on land the family owns at Faldonside, near Melrose.

The Watsons and their father Andrew, 94, claim planning permission was granted to build two houses at the site in the 1960s. But only one cottage was constructed at the time and the second dwelling was never started. Their arguments have been rejected by reporter Paul Cackette.

Nicholas Watson applied to SBC for the certificate in July on the basis that the proposed use of the site for a house would be lawful because of a pre-existing planning permission. 

He became involved in local politics by campaigning to prevent housebuilding in the vicinity of Abbotsford, the home of renowned author Sir Walter Scott. Mr Watson served as a councillor for the Leaderdale and Melrose ward on SBC for more than five years.

The certificate application was refused, under delegated powers, by Scottish Borders Council in September. The reason given was that it had not been demonstrated, on the balance of probability, in the view of the council that a house on the land would be lawful by virtue of an existing, extant planning permission capable of still being implemented.

In a supporting statement lodged with the council, the Watsons said the granting of a certificate would normally involve production of a copy of the original consent, with proof that development had been commenced within the required timescale. 

"However, and as the planning authority is aware, files containing original planning consents were misplaced during the planning department’s move from Galashiels to Council HQ [in Newtown St Boswells] in 2011, and can no longer be located. A recent search of the Hawick archive has proved unsuccessful. 

"Nonetheless, even without a copy of the consent, we believe that the location and design of the existing cottages unambiguously demonstrates that the planning consent obtained for The Cottage was in fact for a pair of cottages, the second of which was never built."

Mr Watson senior clearly remembered the circumstances surrounding his putting a halt to the second cottage, and an Affidavit signed by him accompanied this submission. 

However, planning officer Alla Hassan recommended refusal after assessing the application.

A report stated: "It is important to note that given the age of the consent, neither the Council nor the applicants have been able to retrieve any copies of the original consent. This assessment is limited to considering whether the existing or proposed use or development would be lawful under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 as amended. The relevant test is on the 'balance of probability' whereby the burden of proof regarding decisive matters of facts rests solely with the applicant to provide clear and unambiguous evidence to demonstrate truth of that assertion.

"Whilst the assertions made may indeed point to the intent to develop the site with the addition of a second cottage; as a matter of fact and degree the applicant has failed to demonstrate that on the balance of probability, there has been permission for the second cottage and that the consent remains extant. Though there is a 'possibility' of a consent having been granted and extant, that is not sufficient itself to be 'probable', based on the submissions made here. The Certificate of Lawfulness must, therefore, be refused."

In his appeal letter to the DPEA [Planning & Environmental Appeals Division], Nicholas Watson claimed the evidence the family submitted appeared to have been accepted by the planning authority. "We do not, therefore, comprehend why the application was refused. The decision notice gives no understandable reason."

The written decision issued by Mr Cackette following a site visit, and published yesterday (Monday) includes the following statement: " Overall though, I accept that the design intention at this site is likely to have had in mind the locating of two cottages as suggested."

"That however is not the complete question before me. Applying the tests in the (planning act) Circular, it appears to me that the council were correct in assessing that these indications and the assumptions or inferences as may be drawn from them do not establish, on the balance of probabilities, that the landowner at the time (not being the appellants’ father) sought and obtained planning permission for a cottage on the appeal site."

Mr Cackette believed the affidavit evidence related to a later period of time. In the absence of records indicating the duration of the permission as a planning condition (or not), it was not possible to say for sure when any unimplemented permission expired (or indeed when applied for and granted). But, if limited to the appeal site, it seemed clear – at least some 62 years later – that, if not implemented, it would have long expired. 

The reporter added: "The appellants counter that by assuming that the absent and unseen permission must have related to both cottages and accordingly that proof of commencement can be assumed from the existence of the paired cottage, built in 1964. There is however no evidence of this. What may have been intended or done can only be unverified speculation."

After receiving the decision, Nicholas Watson told Not Just Sheep & Rugby: "This is disappointing, because Reporters’ decisions are usually mini lessons in good planning judgement, but it seems that yet again the only thing that really counts is the correct bit of paper.

"Since the council lost the original planning documents, we were simply asking them to look at the evidence - and there is a lot of it - which points to a pair of cottages being intended for the site.

"The Reporter, like the council, accepts the pair of cottages evidence, but for some inexplicable reason does not think it likely that the original planning permission was for both cottages.  I can’t think of a single reason why anyone would apply for permission to build only one house in a pair, involving more work, cost, time and risk.  The test in these cases is supposed to be the “balance of probability”, but it doesn’t seem to have been applied here."  

Jedburgh seat of learning reduced to rubble

by DOUG COLLIE

Former pupils who received their education at Jedburgh's abandoned grammar school site will have to rely on memories of their alma mater from now on as the bulldozers work to flatten the collection of buildings where generations of youngsters were taught for almost 140 years.

Jethart ex-pats and locals alike may feel like shedding a sentimental tear when they see our pictures of the rubble which now dominates the landscape along the entire length of The Pleasance as the demolition squad clears the classrooms, dining hall and sports centre in preparation for redevelopment of the five-and-a-half acre site. Here's what it once looked like:

Scottish Borders Council's selling agents D M Hall have been marketing the property since October with the entire area set to be free of all vertical structures by next month. Offers of over £800,000 have been invited.

The only building to survive the carnage is the listed original single and two-storey block, built in 1882-84 to the designs of Henry Hardy and John Rutherford Wight in a Neo-Jacobean style with Gothic details. The building is recognisable from its square-plan bell-tower, positioned over the entrance door (see below).

Historic Environment Scotland's Statement of Special Interest includes the following: "The 1880s block of Jedburgh Grammar School is a notable and relatively early example of a burgh school built in the decade following the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872. It has some good quality Gothic detailing, largely concentrated on the main elevation, including gables breaking the wall head to create a varied roofline and carved window rosettes. The bell-tower over the main entrance is a distinctive feature. The building itself is of special architectural interest".

The 'new' school building was opened on 21 July 1884. The final cost, which came in under budget, amounted to £5,200. The school was initially built to accommodate 300 pupils. However there were soon plans to add a further two classrooms, thereby increasing its capacity to 500.

On the Pleasance on the opposite side of the road stood an Art Deco E-plan block by Reid and Forbes, which was built in 1935 as a primary school. Built at a cost of £10,300 the block was constructed of harled brick walls with synthetic stone facings. The building was used by the Grammar School for Social Dining purposes but unfortunately it was excluded from the listing in 2017 and has been knocked down.

The proposed demolition of the school was halted in 1996 following a last minute intervention by Historic Scotland, as the agency was then known. 

A plan for a £8 million replacement school had been scrapped 18 months earlier as a result of education spending cuts with alternative proposals for demolition and rebuild at The Pleasance to rid the site of dilapidated classrooms.

But it would be another quarter of a century before the new £32 million Jedburgh Grammar Campus opened its doors.

Among the luminaries who spent their formative years in the old school are Roy and Greig Laidlaw who both distinguished themselves as Scottish rugby internationalists, Steve Hislop, a champion motorbike racer who died in a helicopter crash in 2003, elite swimmer Lucy Hope, and TV presenter Jill Douglas.

Before the site was advertised for sale, the council conducted a public consultation in which a majority of respondents voted for a new supermarket to be built on part of the site. Other favoured suggestions included a care home and a sports park.

We asked SBC for an update on its efforts to unload the cleared site. These are the questions we asked and responses received from the local authority:

1 - The site has been on the market since October. How would SBC describe the level of interest so far?

There has been some interest in the site and discussions are progressing. A closing date has not been set.   

2. The top priority among those who responded to the council’s 2022 consultation was for a supermarket on the northern part of the site. Has there been any interest shown from supermarket/major retailers?

We cannot comment on discussions with potential purchasers at this time due to commercial sensitivity.

3. A document in the collection which accompanies the planning application shows the demolition contract is being carried out by Central Demolition Ltd., of Bonnybridge. What is the value of the contract awarded to that company/total cost of demolishing and clearing the site? 

The Contract Value is £449,166.00

4. Was Central Demolition Ltd handed the demolition contract without competition or was there a contract notice published, inviting bids for the work? If so, how many bids were received? When is the clearance of the site expected to be complete?  

We used the Scotland Excel framework for Demolition and Deconstruction and called off from lot 2 due to the estimated value. All suppliers within lot 2 who had the ability to service the Scottish Borders were invited (15 suppliers in total) to provide the most economically advantageous tender based on price and quality; we received 7 bids. A Contract Award notice was published on the 17th of September.

Another £1 million loss for Live Borders

by OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EDITOR

The cash-strapped sports and culture trust which provides leisure services for Scottish Borders Council recorded a £1.1 million operating loss for 2023/24 even after receiving an extra million pounds from the local authority to help with increased running costs.

This latest deficit is revealed in accounts filed by Live Borders at Companies House and with the Scottish charities regulator. Income totalling £11.7 million was outstripped by expenditure of £12.8 million.

Live Borders' loss for the last financial year is 36 times greater than the shortfall recorded by the Jedburgh Leisure Facilities Trust [£30,500] which Borders councillors voted out of existence in November by rejecting pleas for further financial assistance. 

The Jedburgh trust is now in the hands of liquidators following the closure of the town swimming pool while an assessment of all facilities run by Live Borders (LB) on behalf of the local authority is expected to be complete by March of next year. The outcome may see at least some of the LB portfolio being brought back under direct council control.

A report by the LB trustees which includes a number of councillors says: "Live Borders in line with many other similar charitable leisure and cultural trusts continued to face challenging trading conditions following the pandemic, significantly exacerbated by other external factors outwith its direct control including significant increases in energy costs, general cost of living pressures and changes in customer behaviour.

"It is also dealing with the impacts of managing and maintaining an ageing property estate as required under the terms of its leases".

LB did manage to achieve a growth in sports participation - 1,131,303 participants against a target of 1,112,401. At the same time cultural involvement saw 405,407 participants against the hoped for 424,723. Health referrals totalled 670 against a target of 600.

According to the trust, membership numbers are being affected by increased competition and the lack of investment into the membership product, impacting on retention rates. These income streams are described as 'business critical'.

Jedburgh Castle Jail and the town's Mary Queen of Scots House continued to be among the most visited cultural venues while the Great Tapestry of Scotland, housed in Galashiels, also grew its visitor numbers.

Scottish Borders Council paid the trust a management fee of £5.8 million in 2023/24 including that additional payment of £1 million to meet the rising cost of providing the service, principally increased staffing costs, utility costs and expenditure on building maintenance.

LB had been handed an extra £800,000 in the previous financial year to keep it afloat and has received further bailouts since the end of the last fiscal year in March.

A financial review which forms part of the accounts declares: "Current forecasts on patterns of consumer behaviour, the level of competition for services locally and competition in key markets suggest it will be several years before our customers return to pre-pandemic levels if investment into key facilities and products is not made". 

The report warns that consistently one of the biggest risks facing LB is maintaining financial stability and sustainable service delivery in the context of managing its large, ageing property portfolio and ambitious income generation targets alongside reduced levels of local authority funding.

LB is currently responsible for 15 sports facilities including six swimming pools, two sports halls, one outdoor sports complex and bowls hall, six artificial sports pitches, two high school sports centres, one school community campus, six libraries, 11 museums, one visitor attraction, 14 community halls, 10 community centres, one archive hub, office buildings, and a multi-function cinema, theatre and offices with cafe bar. The trust had an average of 395 employees on its payroll, up from 354 during the previous year. 

Will Borderers back 10% council tax hike?

by OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EDITOR

An extra £19.2 million in grant aid from the Scottish Government, representing a 7.2% uplift from last year, seems unlikely to ward off a threatened ten per cent council tax increase and local government service cuts for Borders households in 2025/26.

A warning has already been given that most of the additional cash to be handed to Conservative led Scottish Borders Council is already being used in the current financial year to fund pay rises and the ongoing council tax freeze.

According to senior finance officers and leading councillors, the £292 million settlement for SBC is complex and shrouded in uncertainties. 

Over 100 queries about the national settlement for 32 councils have already been lodged with the Convention of Local Authorities [COSLA] and will have to be resolved before a clear financial picture emerges, according to Suzy Douglas, SBC's Director of Finance.

She told councillors the increased settlement would only partially meet the existing funding gap, and further revenue savings will be required to allow the authority to set a balanced budget in February.

And the money allocated by the SNP administration in Edinburgh will not fully provide for the UK Government's controversial rise in employers' National Insurance contributions. It has been estimated the public sector in Scotland will have to find £700 million to cover additional NI payments but will receive only £300 million as part of the settlement.

The Borders budget planning assumption is for a 10 per cent increase in council tax bills which will cost local taxpayers an additional £7 million over the coming financial year. 

Before launching the council's annual budget consultation exercise at the weekend, Leagh Douglas, SBC's Executive Member for Finance, told a meeting on Thursday that difficult decisions lay ahead.

In a statement issued by the council to mark the beginning of the consultation process, Councillor Douglas says: "A cross-party group of Councillors along with officers have been meeting regularly to draft plans for the 2025/2026 budget, but we are just part of the process, it’s crucial that we get the input of local people of all ages from across the Borders sharing their views and taking an active part in shaping their communities”.

Council Leader Euan Jardine commented: "“The Council has implemented a range of innovative measures to save money and improve efficiency. However, we continue to face significant challenges, including rising costs of essential services, the impact of inflation and the unique geographical and demographic factors of our region.

“Despite these hurdles, we are committed to remaining financially sustainable in the face of ever-growing challenges and must identify at least £5 million in savings for the 2025/26 financial year to ensure we can continue to provide high-quality services for our communities."

Councillors will have to make financial headroom for a significant increase in interest charges following record levels of borrowing for capital projects in 2024. As previously reported, SBC arranged a series of loans from the Treasury Debt Management Office totalling £136 million in the first eleven months of this calendar year.

Among the questions posed in the online survey is this one: To what extent do you support or oppose the following proposals? An increase of up to 10% in Council Tax to protect local services? The options on offer are 'strongly support', 'support', 'oppose', 'strongly oppose' and 'don't know'.

 

Borders Railway booming along its entire length

by LESTER CROSS

The five stations closest to the northern end of the Borders Railway experienced an even larger increase in passenger demand last year than their booming counterparts further south, figures based on ticket sales have shown.

As we reported yesterday, the stations at Gorebridge, Stow, Galashiels and Tweedbank experienced an uplift in user numbers ranging from 19 to 32 per cent in 2023/24, according to recently published data from the national railway authorities.

But the statistics are even more striking when the latest usage totals for stations at Brunstane, Newcraighall, Shawfair, Eskbank and Newtongrange are set alongside the equivalent numbers in 2022/23.

Here is what the tables of data show:

Brunstane - 2023/24 162,702 (2022/23 109,944) increase 47.9%.

Newcraighall - 250,388 (177,804) increase 40.8%.

Shawfair - 64,520 (44,362) increase 45.4%.

Eskbank - 274,640 (202,734) increase 35.4%.

Newtongrange - 153,434 (114,918) increase 33.5%.

Supporters of the campaign to have the 30-mile rail route extended at least as far as Hawick in the short-term claim this set of figures should pile pressure on the UK Treasury to stump up £5 million as their half of a £10 million project to assess the feasibility of the proposed extension right through to Carlisle.

Local MSP Christine Grahame (SNP) whose constituency includes the four southernmost stations on the existing line has already indicated she will be writing to the UK Government urging them to match the Scottish Government's commitment to fund the study.

Meanwhile Marion Short, who chairs the Campaign For Borders Rail told us: "The stats certainly make for very interesting reading and are indicative that there is now an even stronger demand for train travel within the Borders.

"I would be hopeful that this encourages people to travel into the Scottish Borders for tourism purposes.  I will definitely be cascading this information to my many contacts politically, those in transport agencies, Borderlands Growth Deal Group as this overall increase from 22/23 has to have a significant impact on the decisions of both Governments relative to the release of the feasibility study funding".

She said the campaign members had been delighted to hear the announcement of a proposed new Center Parcs [700 lodges and assorted holiday facilities] development near Hawick and were hopeful that would strengthen the case to build the second phase of the railway from Tweedbank via Hawick and onwards to Carlisle.  

"The criteria publicised by the UK Government for any new project is that it would lead to economic growth and certainly this new development would enhance that criteria and correlate with the railway towards the regeneration of the whole Scottish Borders area", said Ms Short. "It is seen locally as a terrific boost."

Notwithstanding visitors attending the Center Parcs village, the provision of the railway would be most helpful for anyone working there, facilitating transport connectivity.  The process for determining the Center Parcs planning application would run ahead of the railway feasibility study, and the Transport Assessment which would form part of the planning application would have to outline the impact on existing road infrastructure. 

Massive rise in Borders rail passenger numbers

EXCLUSIVE by LESTER CROSS

Campaigners for an extension of the Borders Railway beyond the Tweedbank terminus will have welcomed newly published figures which show numbers of travellers increased by more than 30 per cent at some stations during 2023/24.

Following confirmation of the strong sets of data for stations in her constituency, Borders MSP Christine Grahame told us she would use the figures to put pressure on the UK Treasury to release cash for a long-awaited investigation into the case for reinstating the rest of the former Waverley route.

While nationally, Scotland enjoyed a 16% uplift in passenger journeys, local figures for stations on the southern section of the Borders line exceeded that impressive rise by a considerable margin.

Estimated passenger entries and exits by station, based on ticket sales, revealed the following statistics for four of the stations along the route:

Tweedbank - 399,460, a 32.4% increase on the 2022/23 figure of 301,528; Galashiels - 320,406, up by 19.2% on the previous year's total of 268,720; Stow - 75,818, 26.7% above the 2022/23 number of 59,806; and Gorebridge - 122,968, 32.9% more than the previous year's estimate of 92,486.

According to the publication which covers every railway station in the UK, some ticket sales and ticketless travel are not included, which may mean that usage at some stations is underestimated.

A £10 million feasibility study to see whether an extension of the railway through the Borders to Carlisle would be financially viable remains on hold after the UK Government 'paused' its commitment of £5 million following this year's General Election.

Christine Grahame, the SNP MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, told us: "These figures prove what myself and all those campaigners always knew, that the railway would be a success. 

“This demonstrates the potential for the Borders people and the Borders economy with an extension through to Carlisle.

“ The Scottish government remains committed to its £5 million contribution to that feasibility study for the extension, but the UK government has not committed to its £5 million contribution and as of September 2024 has put this “on hold”

Ms Grahame, who was at the forefront of efforts to have the Edinburgh-Tweedbank line rebuilt and brought back into service in 2015 added: “£5 million is a drop in a bucket in the UK finances and I am writing to the UK Treasury to request this small sum in the light of these figures, be reinstated so the first steps to the extension and growing the Borders economy, can begin."

The study forms part of the multi-million pounds Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal. But Labour politicians have rubbished claims that the previous Tory administration had allocated funds for the study, and allege such claims were 'a work of fiction'.

Earlier this year, Scottish Borders Council agreed to proceed with the appointment of a senior project manager to oversee the various stages of the study. 

Councillors who approved the appointment were told the role will cover a three-year period at a cost of £220,000, funded 50/50 by the Scottish and UK Governments. The procurement of the Senior Project Manager would progress using the £110,000 available to draw down from Scottish Government until the full allocation was confirmed by the UK Government.

A report to council stated: "It is expected that the next step following the appointment of the Senior Project Manager will be the establishment of a dedicated Project Support Team, cash flowed upfront by the Council and the costs fully recovered from the £10m funding provided by UK and Scottish Governments via the Borderlands Deal."

The Campaign for Borders Rail, which backs efforts for a better service on the existing Borders Railway as well as pushing for the extension to Carlisle was approached for comment on the new passenger figures.

Meanwhile, there was an equally healthy increase in usage of the recently reopened Reston station on the east coast main line in Berwickshire. Numbers there rose from 13,190 in 2022/23 to 21,130 last year, an increase of more than 60%. 

Revised Teviot wind farm remains "unacceptable"

by EWAN LAMB

The scaled-down proposals for a giant wind farm in Teviotdale with the number of turbines cut from 62 to 53 would still have a detrimental impact on the area's conical-shaped hills and steep-sided valleys, according to a landscape expert who also condemned the original plan.

Scottish Borders Council is expected to finally reach a decision on Muirhall Energy's Teviot Wind Farm scheme south of Hawick in early 2025 after being granted several extensions by the Scottish Government's Energy Consents Unit.

A key element in the decision-making process will be the opinion provided by Siobhan McDermott, the council's landscape architect. 

In a report last year, Ms McDermott wrote: "Although there are no designated landscapes within the site, I suggest that the landscape of this area has a high local value arising from its perception of remoteness and relatively wild character, and an increased sensitivity due to the important routes in close proximity.

"The number and spread of turbines is threatening to turn this area into a wind farm landscape, with a consequence change of the landscape character from Uplands with Wind Turbines/No wind turbines to a Wind Turbine landscape. This increase in windfarms to the extent that it would become a windfarm landscape is, in my professional opinion a significant cumulative landscape effect.   The visualisations from many of the viewpoints (VPs) demonstrates how prominent and character changing a wind farm of this scale would be."

Her revised report, now published on the council's website shows Ms McDermott has not altered her views. She recommends that the council should object to the scheme.

The new report concludes: "I do not support a windfarm of this scale and with such large turbines on a group of hills that, in my opinion cannot accommodate them without unacceptable negative landscape and visual effects."

Ms McDermott explains that although her comment concentrates on the turbines and their landscape and visual effects, it is acknowledged that the dropping of the draft solar array proposal will have a positive landscape and visual impact on the immediate area where it was proposed. 

But she says the revised scheme does not markedly reduce the visibility of the array when seen from the selected viewpoints – there is no additional topographical containment achieved with the amended scheme. 

"The ZTV [Zones of Theoretical Visibility] mapping and visualisations provide a useful demonstration of just how little screening there is from surrounding areas, and this lack of containment coupled with the horizontal spread of turbines makes it highly visible and highly prominent in the landscape."

According to Ms McDermott, the complex topography of the site, seen by the juxtaposition of hills and ridges with an extensive network of watercourses in deep and steep-sided valleys suggests  that a wind farm of this scale cannot be accommodated without unacceptable effects on the landscape, both fabric and character. 

"These effects will especially diminish the character of the cone shaped hills such as Skelfhill Pen, Penchrise Pen and to a lesser extent, Maiden Paps, by virtue of surrounding or engulfing them with turbines.   While the remoteness, wild character and grandeur of scale currently remain the underlying character of the receiving landscape, these have already been modified by scattered forests. The addition of 53 very large turbines will further reduce or eliminate these characteristics".

The reduction in the number of turbines from 62 to 53 has not, in her professional opinion, mitigated the effects on the landscape. 

The turbines will affect a significant change to the perception of the landscape over a wide area,  with the spread of large turbines along the ridges, often engulfing the more characterful discrete hills, diminishing the character of the natural assemblage and from several viewpoints appearing to step down into the smaller scale upland fringes and valleys that separate the ridges and tops. 

"Even with a reduction of the number of turbines, the proposal remains very prominent and character changing in the landscape. 

"The revised visualisations demonstrate that despite the removal of nine turbines, with a very slight reduction in the horizontal extent of the view occupied by turbines, the proposed wind farm remains very prominent along the skyline from the majority of the representative viewpoints. Nor do I think there has been a significant reduction in the magnitude of change."

Despite the reduction of the number of turbines from 62 to 53, there has not been a notable reduction in significant effects on sensitive receptors both near and further afield, adds Ms McDermott.

"The array remains prominent in many views and dominates the hills onto which it is being located and in the worst examples diminishes what are widely seen as feature hills within the hill group. From Rubers Law, almost 15 km from the array, the discrete hills seen in the middle ground are dominated and diminished by the turbines that occupy a very wide horizontal extent of the view, with one turbine appearing to be sticking out of Skelfhill Pen."

'Insolvent' Jedburgh pool had smallest deficit in Borders

EXCLUSIVE by OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EDITOR

The financial losses suffered by six swimming facilities managed by the Live Borders trust are considerably larger than the deficits which helped councillors to pull the plug on Jedburgh's Laidlaw Memorial Pool (LMP) and force its closure.

Figures from a reliable source passed on to Not Just Sheep & Rugby reveal that the Live Borders centres with pools in Eyemouth, Kelso, Galashiels, Selkirk, Hawick and Peebles had a combined shortfall of £1.319 million in 2023/24, a 25% increase in their operating deficit of £1.059 million during the previous financial year.

Hawick's Teviotdale Leisure Centre lost £547,434 last year while the smallest deficit of the six Live Borders facilities was the £69,004 racked up by Galashiels Swimming Pool.

Meanwhile, draft accounts for Jedburgh Leisure Facilities Trust [JLFT] which now faces liquidation show the LMP registered a 2023/24 loss of £30,517.

Members of Scottish Borders Council last month voted by 26 votes to four to reject a request from JLFT for an additional £80,000 to keep the Jedburgh pool open until the end of the current financial year. Both trusts have already had to be bailed out after running into financial difficulties

It is not clear whether the councillors had the figures for the Live Borders pools in front of them when they took their decision. Now, Jedburgh is left without swimming facilities with its pool mothballed pending a review of all Borders pools which could result in all of the centres being taken back under local authority control.

The council was told the Jedburgh trust currently had around £20,000 available in the bank and an immediate wages bill of £20,000 due on December 1st. In addition, the trust had current debts of £55,000. Without immediate financial support, JLFT would cease to trade. 

"The trust is no longer in a position where it is financially viable without the sourcing of further additional funding.", according to a report by council director of finance Suzy Douglas. "The Council has already provided substantial financial support in the form of Capital and Revenue grants."

A governance review had highlighted areas of weakness within JLFT’s governance which contributed to JLFT’s financial position. 

Our source has compiled their own version of events which led to the devastating decision to close the pool, at least temporarily.

They explained that LMP initially received a management fee of £137,000 from the council to be increased annually by inflation. But, in fact, the figure has gone down, not up, over the years to £115,000. The trust had saved SBC about £200,000 a year when it took over the running of the pool in Jedburgh.

We were told: "It’s been going well in the intervening 21years, increasing the number of users by 300 per cent and investing about £750,000 over the years to improve the facility through external grant applications from various sources such as EU Leader.

“It managed to survive COVID though many pools throughout the country didn’t.  It did receive a one-off grant of £127,000 from SBC for energy saving measures, used mainly to replace the 40-year-old inefficient and unreliable gas boilers."

But it is claimed the trust's ability to continue was jeopardised two years ago when energy costs increased by £60,000 a year, although it managed to cope until earlier this year.

 JLFT told SBC in August it was close to insolvency and a paper was prepared for councillors to consider.

According to our source: "The pool received the quarterly management fee in advance and £40,000 from SBC’s reserve. The conditions were that South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) would advise Trustees on improving their finances and governance, and that JLFT should do Debt Consolidation.

"JLFT found out a few days before the November Council meeting that SOSE had proposed reducing opening hours to just one shift of  seven hours a day opening and a grant of £80,000. That had previously been discussed as a possibility of reduced hours, among other possibilities, but it was obvious Council would never agree to that proposal”.

The opinions of the LMP users, many of them from outwith Jedburgh, was that ”it’s the best pool in the Borders and any suggestion that it was badly managed doesn’t fit the facts and is meant to divert attention from Live Borders record." 

These are the financial figures we were given:

2022/23

Eyemouth Leisure Centre: income 242,089; costs £436,589; deficit £194,500.  

Kelso Swimming Pool: income £260,432; costs £390,265; deficit £129,833.

Galashiels Swimming Pool: income £341,502; costs £453,513; deficit £112,012.

Selkirk Leisure Centre: income £127,986; costs £266,294; deficit £138,310.

Teviotdale Leisure Centre: income £617,517; costs £940,856; deficit £323,339.

Peebles Swimming Pool: income £84,198; costs £245,589; deficit £161,392.

Jedburgh LMP: income £432,696; costs £489,243; deficit £54,547.

2023/24

Eyemouth Leisure Centre: income £177,483; costs £442,689; deficit £265,206.

Kelso Swimming Pool: income £296,807; costs £449,373; deficit £152,566.

Galashiels Swimming Pool: income £402,765; costs £471,769; deficit £69,004.

Selkirk Leisure Centre: income £166,804; costs £258,640; deficit £91,836.

Teviotdale Leisure Centre: income £575,415; costs £1,122,849; deficit £547,434.

Peebles Swimming Pool: income £195,716; costs £389,661; deficit £193,945.

Jedburgh LMP: income £459,392; costs £489,909; deficit £30,517.

Warnings over Borders incinerator fiasco ignored by Aviva?

by LESTER CROSS

Our coverage of Scottish Borders Council's disastrous dalliance with the waste incineration industry, resulting in the loss of at least £2.4 million of public money, apparently failed to impress bosses at the Aviva whose investor clients (UK pension funds in this case)  have had their fingers burned to the tune of around £350 million in similar circumstances, according to reports.

It has emerged that an Aviva shareholder, the late Barry Robinson, from Hull, warned the Aviva’s then Group chief executive Mark Wilson seven years ago of the dangers of putting cash into untried and untested technology being used in multi-million-pound gasification projects aimed at turning waste into electricity.

But despite Mr Robinson's intervention, and criticisms from other Aviva stakeholders, management of the investment giant continued to pour huge wads of their investors’ cash into so-called biomass plants in Hull, Boston in Lincolnshire, and Barry, South Wales.

Loans totalling £480 million were ploughed into the three sites by Aviva between 2015 and 2023.

However, just like the ill-fated £23 million waste incinerator planned for Easter Langlee on the outskirts of Galashiels, "the technology posed significant challenges that would require more investment to solve".

Our investigations into the Borders scheme which councillors were forced to abandon in 2015, revealed that the system being flogged to the local authority by insolvent outfit New Earth Solutions Group [NESG] was basically useless. And NESG's supposed offshore financial backers - Premier Group (Isle of Man) - could not come up with the money for the Galashiels incinerator.

Most of our information was gleaned via Freedom of Information requests to the council, several of which were rejected on 'commercial confidentiality' grounds. However, on several occasions the Borders authority was ordered to release the paperwork it wished to hide by the Scottish Information Commissioner.

A series of Not Just Sheep & Rugby articles published in August 2017 was used by Mr Robinson to back up his claims in his letter of September 2017 to Mr Wilson.

He wrote: "I understand that Aviva is investing heavily in UK infrastructure. Whilst this would seem sensible policy, I am perturbed by the enthusiasm for, (alleged), production of renewable energy by gasification of waste. I have been unable to find any evidence showing that gasification of waste to produce renewable energy works on an economically viable scale. Any 'evidence' supporting the validity of the technology seems to be dependent on small-scale experiments, the results of which are hyped-up so often that they appear to be evidence".

Mr Robinson claimed that many developers in this field seemed to have "an amoral disregard" for facts. They seemed prone to assuring investors that everything was going to plan, right up to the car-crash.

That was certainly true in Easter Langlee's case, with meaningless assurances from NESG repeatedly swallowed by those promoting the project.

According to Mr Robinson: "Jed Forrester, in his online blog, 'Not Just Sheep and Rugby' (entries for 20-27 Aug 2017), claims to have exposed a classic case of this in which Scottish residents will have to foot a £2.4 million bill for incompetence at all levels regarding a gasification plant at Easter Langlee. (I enclose copy)".

And he concluded: "Please reply. I will be grateful if you will supply me with a clear written assurance that Aviva has investigated my complaint and agrees or disagrees with the comments I have made."

The cash for Aviva's 'calamitous' involvement in incinerators - dubbed by critics as the dirtiest form of power generation - has been channelled through an Aviva Unit Trust based offshore in Jersey which then loaned the funds to another Aviva subsidiary, based in the UK, called Aviva Investors Infrastructure Income No.3 Ltd.

As of December 2023, that company had total shareholders' deficits of £424 million, up from £313 million in 2022. Last year's operating loss of £111.4 million compared to a £92.6 million loss the previous year.

Yet the annual report stated: "The objective of the company is to achieve investment returns from investments in biomass projects".

The Guardian newspaper reported that Aviva now planned to put the three incineration plants into administration in an apparent bid to cut its substantial losses. 

The newspaper claimed the plants in Hull and Boston had generated far less electricity than planned, while the plant in Barry had been mothballed due to a planning row with the Welsh government.

Shlomo Dowen, national co-ordinator at the UK Without Incineration Network (UKWIN) was a friend and colleague of Mr Robinson as well as a fierce critic of the Easter Langlee failed scheme.

He said incineration was “harming recycling and exacerbating climate change”.

“Additionally, at a time when all efforts should be made to improve air quality, incinerators are harming the air that we breathe. And that is just one example of why incinerators are experienced as bad neighbours.”

Anyone thinking of following SBC and Aviva down the waste incineration route would do well to read the newly published 'Considerations for Potential Investors in UK EfW Projects' produced by UKWIN.

The document points out that the UK Energy from Waste (EfW) incineration sector is encountering a range of new and growing challenges that could significantly influence profitability, and this warrants careful consideration by potential investors in existing and new projects.

It adds: "At a time when the range of risks is increasing, the sector’s traditional model of mitigating risks, such as feedstock availability and regulatory changes, through long-term public sector waste contracts is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain."

The authors explore key risks that support the conclusion that investors should consider investing higher in the waste hierarchy rather than in new UK EfW capacity.

The full report can be accessed here:

https://ukwin.org.uk/Considerations-for-EfW-Investors.pdf

Project's potential haul of undiscovered Borders history

by LESTER CROSS

Dozens of previously unscheduled ancient monuments ranging from Bronze and Iron Age features to abandoned medieval settlements are thought to have been identified along the Tweed Valley in the first phase of a three-year archaeological project which is already exciting historians as well as Borderers involved in the research.

The results from an extensive study of LiDAR images - a sophisticated form of laser scanning - of an area stretching from Moffat across the Borders to Berwick come with the caveat that lots of on-the-ground work will be needed before conclusions can be reached.

But those participating in the £300,000 Uncovering The Tweed project, part of the ambitious Destination Tweed initiative, have been surprised that up to 200 new monuments may have lain hidden for centuries.

The first indications from the LiDAR detections were cautiously presented by Graeme Cavers, a director of AOC Archaeology, the specialists leading Uncovering the Tweed in an online review session.

Mr Cavers told his audience, including a number of those who made discoveries: "It is remarkable there is still so much out there".

The team's territory extends to two kilometres on each side of the river along its 90-mile route from source to mouth, and aims to provide a detailed archaeological record for future generations.

Some of the sites plotted on the project map are completely new and therefore unscheduled while others are believed to be additional features of registered monuments. The majority of the finds are in the upper reaches where the ground has been less disturbed by intensive ploughing.

Mr Cavers highlighted a number of the sites where additional research is likely to be needed to prove their authenticity.

He mentioned a Bronze Age terraced platform settlement, and said the project had possibly come up with up to ten new Iron Age forts and other monuments, adding to the 100 or so already identified in the region. Some of these new sites appeared to show evidence of timber roundhouses.

In one case, a substantial Iron Age settlement seemed to have gone undetected, even when a modern cable trench had been dug through it some years ago. Cairns, sheep stells [shelters] rig and furrow cultivation and enclosures also featured in Mr Cavers' presentation.

Moving forward in time, the LiDAR scans had also picked out a square feature close to Horncliffe village, near Berwick, possibly the site of a medieval village or a Roman camp overlooking the Tweed. 

In the same area, there are plans for an archaeological excavation next year at the location of a medieval hospital at Horndean.

And a few miles away at Ladykirk/Upsettlington the scanners are also thought to have landed on the remains of a village dating from the Middle Ages.

Finally, a site described by Mr Cavers as "the star of the show". At a location at Yair, not far from Galashiels, lies a feature measuring 30 metres by 23 metres close to the river bank which could turn out to be an abandoned 13th or 14th Century settlement 'of high standing'.

But this site, like all the others, will require co-operation from local landowners if it is to benefit from further expert research. 

Uncovering the Tweed Project Officer, Charlotte Douglas, told us: “We’re in the very early stages of the project but are extremely excited at the prospect of new discoveries and, subject to landowner permission, hope to follow up some of the LiDAR research conducted to date with a number of on-the-ground surveys in early 2025. 

"Uncovering the Tweed is a community-based archaeology programme, so we’ve been particularly pleased at the enthusiastic response from the general public who are obviously keen to play an active part in finding out more about the history of the Tweed and its communities.  We’re greatly looking forward to seeing what the next stage of the project will reveal.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about the programme or wanting to get involved can access information at:

 https://destinationtweed.org/project/uncovering-the-tweed/

Borders Council's record £60 million borrowing spree

by OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EDITOR

Scottish Borders Council smashed all of its previous monthly borrowing records in November when it asked the Treasury Debt Management Office for advances totalling £60 million, bringing the authority's debts for the calendar year to an eye-watering £136 million.

Figures published today by the Public Works Loan Board [PWLB] reveal that the Borders local authority took the cash in three separate "instalments" of £20 million on November 18th, November 26th and November 27th. The loans will add hundreds of thousands of pounds to the considerable sum in interest payments already being met from council funds via taxpayers.

The November 18th agreement came with a 5.17% interest rate with a maturity date for that loan given as May 21st 2026.

The £20 million borrowed eight days later on November 26th carries an interest rate of 5.08%, and a maturity date of November 26th 2029.

Then, the following day (November 27th) the third £20 million advance of the month was transacted, again at 5.08% and with maturity due on November 27th 2029.

As previously reported, cash from the growing portfolio of loans held by the council will be used to partly bankroll the authority's £454 million of capital investment which is planned over the next ten years. The various PWLB advances handed to SBC in the first ten months of 2024 totalled £76 million.

A report from John Boyd, the auditor appointed by the public spending watchdog to inspect SBC's books, noted: "The extensive capital plan is primarily focused on economic regeneration and the learning estate. £187 million is on the school estate including the new high schools for Galashiels, Peebles and Hawick estimated at £145 million, with the majority of this invested over the next three financial years."

That report concluded that SBC's total external debt, which includes the council’s long-term liabilities, is within the authorised limit and operational boundary set in the Treasury Management Strategy 2023/24. The current borrowing position complies with the Prudential Code, and the Council continues to consider the affordability of future borrowing.

It has been estimated that SBC will borrow £170 million over the coming three years.

Only last week, a new report produced by the Controller of Audit to Scotland's Accounts Commission claimed SBC has consistently laid out a clear vision and strategic priorities that respond to its geographic and demographic challenges. 

"The Commission is impressed by the council’s strong approach to financial management and recognises its financial strategy risk register as an area of good practice that should be shared. There is a strong track record of delivering planned savings, a significant proportion of which are recurring. Going forward, recognising the financial challenges faced, the focus should be on making savings on a recurring basis."

The report noted there had been a significant increase in the level of General Fund reserves held by the council. They increased from £49.6 million in 2022/23 to £60.1 million in 2023/24, a net increase of £10.5 million, predominately from service concession arrangements.

The council recognised the revenue implications of borrowing and ensured borrowing was in line with prudential indicators detailed in the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities 2021. 

According to the Controller of Audit: "In 2023/24, the council noted the higher interest rates in the UK and sought advice from its treasury management specialists. As a result, the council undertook short-term borrowing and used existing cash balances for capital investment. The council has reported that they were able to maintain service performance levels with some improvements in education indicators and recycling. 

"Challenges exist in indicators relating to looked after children and complaints handling and completing freedom of information (FOI) requests within the statutory deadline which have both declined in year. The council is making changes to its FOI process to address the statutory deadlines not being met, and there is a focus for improvement for looked after children being progressed via the Children and Young People Planning Partnership."