THE Scottish Government will consider the relocation of Galashiels ambulance station to a site at Borders General Hospital on April 24, writes Kenny Paterson.

Both NHS Borders and the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) backed plans at separate board meetings held last week.

And the case will be formally looked at by the Government’s Capital Investment Group this month.

The switch of the station out of Galashiels – due to take place in 2012/13 if approved – will allow the new Roxburgh Street GP surgery to be built in 2013/14, with the whole project costing £1.8million.

A paramedic will be on call at the new health centre when it opens and both organisations have said ambulance response times will in fact improve rather than worsen.

But one SAS worker told us: “We will have to see how it goes but I feel it would be better to move the station near Galashiels Health Centre at Currie Road.

“The ambulance facilities at Roxburgh Street were built in the 1970s and are not good enough but with both the police and fire stations in the town getting old, why not bring all three together on the same site to serve Galashiels? It would appear to make more sense than a costly move to the BGH.”

But Calum Campbell, chief executive of NHS Borders, said: “This is a major boost for local health services.

“The plans reaffirm our commitment to delivering first-class health care, as close to home as possible, in modern facilities.

“While more detail will be confirmed in the coming few months, these plans mark an important step forward in improving health care for the community.”

The scheme will be funded by both organisations, with NHS Borders claiming the new ambulance station site will provide excellent access to the main roads of the Borders.

And the health board say the new health centre will offer improved clinical areas, patient facilities and administrative space for practice staff and the primary healthcare team, as well as some visiting services.

THE building of a much-awaited specialist palliative care facility got under way at Borders General Hospital (BGH) this week.

NHS Borders chairman John Raine officially launched the start of the construction of the £4.1million Margaret Kerr Unit on Tuesday.

He said: “This is the day construction starts in earnest: it’s an exciting milestone.”

Builders expect to finish the facility which will be an extension of an existing ward in February, with patients and their families expected to be using the en-suite rooms, clinical areas, day rooms and family accommodation by spring next year.

Mr Raine added: “This is an important development in the provision of specialist in-patient palliative care in the Borders. The fundraising has been marvellous.”

More than £3.5million has been secured and an appeal, launched last September, has already raised more than £335,000 towards the £1million still required.

“There have been so many trusts and charities that have been generous to the Margaret Kerr Unit,” said Mr Raine, citing the example of the WRVS raising £178,000 in the BGH over the last 16 months. “It is really an exciting time,” he said.

NHS Borders vice chairperson Catherine Duthie, who is also involved in fundraising, said: “Inevitably the recession has an impact but this is simply a case that people understand, quite often from personal experience, and therefore they are giving the unit every possible support.”

Co-trustee Douglas Connell, the late Miss Kerr’s lawyer, said: “It’s fantastic. It’s when you see everything on site you realise this project is really happening.

“Miss Kerr discussed this dream a long time ago. She wanted to see if this could be made a reality, she was very conscious there was nothing like this here. She didn’t really think it would happen but she thought we should all try and give it our best shot. The Borders has risen to the challenge and we are really excited about it becoming a reality.”

The work is exciting, too, for those who will work in the new facility.

Leading nurse specialist for palliative care, Dot Partington said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity, because the current facilities are not up to scratch. It’s a general ward-type setting whereas the new unit will have single rooms with space for relatives to stay over.

“The unit will make the family and patients’ experience much better, and from the nurses’ point of view they will be able to give more individual nursing care.”

Staff nurses Hilary Douglas and Julia Hume echo that view.

Mrs Hume, 46, a mother of two, has been nursing for 10 years.

She said: “It’s really difficult to maintain a peaceful setting within a busy ward. The Margaret Kerr Unit will be a more appropriate setting.

“Hopefully it will give us more time to develop our skills as nurses and enhance what we know and it will also be a better and more appropriate environment for patients with everything consolidated.”

Mrs Douglas, 39, a mum-of-one, has been nursing for five years.

She said: “We are going to be working more closely with families and patients.

“It’s going to be a specialist client base and I think it’s going to enhance our skills and hopefully we are going to become a closer knit team.”

Mrs Partington, who has been working in the Borders for three years and working in palliative care since 1998, said: “I love my job. You have the opportunity to make a difference for patients and their families, whether it’s helping with pain, symptom control or giving emotional or practical support. It’s an opportunity for nurses to be able to provide holistic care.”

PLANS have been submitted for 11 homes and six business units in Greenlaw.

Planning permission in principle is sought from Kelso-based Langlee Development Services and would mean 11 houses being built on land beside Wester Row while the offices would be constructed south of Edinburgh Road.

The application, submitted to Scottish Borders Council this month, is due to be considered by mid-May.

TWO mini-digger buckets were stolen from Abbotsford House. between 7.30pm on Sunday and 9am on Monday.

Anyone with any information tshould contact the police.

a WING mirror on a Ford Focus car was damaged in Burns Road, Hawick, between 10.30pm on Sunday and 10.50am on Monday.

Police are appealing for any witnesses to contact them.

THE results of a joint initiative to reduce antisocial behaviour in a notorious area of Hawick have this week been described as “hugely encouraging”.

In the three months since the project was launched, on December 14, there was a 74 per cent reduction in the overall level of complaint calls to the police, with no further calls regarding a number of households which were deemed “problematic”.

The findings were presented this week to the multi-agency Safer Communities Team at the headquarters of Scottish Borders Council at Newtown, which had sanctioned the initiative, aimed at combating and reducing incidents of antisocial behaviour in streets at the west end of the town – Allars Crescent, Allars Bank, Backdamgate, Crown Close and Lovel Court.

The team was aware that many residents in this area were reluctant to come forward with specific information for fear of reprisals.

The initiative involved a task group, comprising police and housing officers from social housing providers Eildon and SBHA, along with local councillors and members of the Newtown-based team, carrying out door-to-door discussions.

Each resident was provided with an information pack, along with a face-to-face reassurance that action would be taken to deal with those responsible for making their lives a misery.

In addition, what were described as “identified problem residents” signed acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs), while others were warned about their future conduct.

The dramatic cut in antisocial related calls, was welcomed by Kerr Scott, the team’s senior antisocial behaviour officer.

“These statistics are hugely encouraging and pay testimony to the close co-operation and multi-agency work which regularly takes place in the Borders to make our area one of the safest places to live, visit and work,” said Mr Scott.

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) is looking for volunteers in Innerleithen to learn basic first aid and lifesaving skills.

A meeting has been arranged at St Ronan’s Primary next Wednesday to explain to public spirited individuals what is involved in setting up a so-called Community First Responder Scheme in the Peeblesshire town.

Since the launch of the initiative several years ago, the SAS has established more than 100 of the schemes across Scotland.

Under the schemes, the service trains community volunteers and provides appropriate medical equipment so that they can deliver an early response to patients while the ambulance is on its way. The responders are deployed via the ambulance service’s emergency medical dispatch centre.

“First responders are asked to attend serious and life- threatening emergencies, such as when people are experiencing breathing difficulties, chest pains, cardiac arrest or unconsciousness.” explained Jill Keddie, an SAS paramedic.

“They are not sent to road collisions or traumatic injuries or anything outwith their training. An emergency ambulance is always dispatched first and the role of the responder is to support the patient while the ambulance is on its way, providing a really important community service.

“Speed of intervention can be critical when responding to 999 calls and this initiative creates an even faster response for patients and is co-ordinated with our existing ambulance resources. In a medical emergency, simple first aid skills, like making sure an airway is clear, often save a life.

“The programme is an enhancement to our existing ambulance resources and each scheme works locally with our staff to ensure ongoing refresher training in basic life-saving skills and the use of medical equipment.

“Advances in technology mean many interventions which were previously performed only by highly trained individuals are now available to people with much less training. These include small, easy-to-operate external defibrillators or shock boxes and lightweight oxygen delivery systems.”

Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Jill at jkeddie@nhs.net or on 07871 240 155.

Wednesday’s explanatory meeting, to which all are welcome, begins at 7.30pm.

SCOTTISH Borders Council (SBC) raises over £18,000 per year from telecommunications masts situated across the region.

The figure from five masts was revealed after questions by Galashiels councillor John Mitchell about a controversial 35ft post which is to be sited in the Sanderson court area of the town by mobile phone operators Orange.

The most money is generated from a mast at SBC’s headquarters in Newtown St Boswells, £5,723 a year, followed by Pinnaclehill in Kelso (£4,750), Millers Knowes in Hawick (£4,200), 02’s Currie Road location (£2,000) and Coldstream Industrial Estate (£1,500).

A mast in the Linglie area near Selkirk makes nearly £11,000 a year for the town’s common good fund.

However, Allan Strang, who is objecting to the location of the Orange pole in Galashiels, is still unsatisfied, and is preparing a complaint to the Scottish Public Service Ombudsman.

He said: “The question of how much the council has made from the mast being sited in Sanderson Court has still not been answered.”

Mr Strang has gathered more than 100 signatures from Glendinning residents concerned by the proximity of the mast.

He still believes a site at Manse Street should have been considered by councillors. Households in Glendinning fear radiation and the devaluation of their homes.

SBC members who approved the planning bid in January were unable to consider health concerns under Scottish planning policy.

Orange says global scientific reviews have found no adverse health effects caused by mobile phone base stations.

Councillor Mitchell said: “I sympathise but there is not much more we can do. It has never been proven that these masts pose health risks and until it has been it will be very difficult to see what action can be taken.”

ONE hundred years ago this month, the world was shocked with news that the “unsinkable” ocean liner, RMS Titanic, had been lost with the death of 1,514 people.

National pride was boosted, however, with the courage shown by Antarctic explorer Captain Scott and his team who reached the South Pole before perishing on the return journey. And an ancient tradition came to an end when the last emperor of China officially abdicated.

No less momentous to the families involved, however, were the births of two girls in Scotland. Isa Hawkins was born in Cavers Carre, in Roxburghshire, the daughter of a local gardener, while Jean Jamieson was born in Dumfries into a family of church ministers.

A century later, Isa McArdle, as she is now, is already celebrating reaching her 100th birthday, while Jean will mark the extra special anniversary later in the month.

Both are residents of the St John’s Home in Melrose, which was the setting for a family gathering and celebration on Monday when Isa was the guest of honour.

Isa’s father eventually took a job as a gardener at the Hydro Hotel in Melrose and the family moved to the town. After school, Isa worked in the local telephone exchange until she retired – apart from a brief stint in the exchange at Galashiels.

A resident of St John’s for the past two years, Isa told TheSouthern she was surprised to be the centre of so much attention: “It was a very big surprise to see so many people. I was only expecting something small, so this is wonderful. I’m very happy,” she added, proudly displaying the card from the Queen conveying her traditional congratulations to those becoming centenarians.

Asked what she thought was the secret of a long life, Isa is convinced it was her healthy, outdoors upbringing. “We were never inside when we were children. We were always playing outside, getting plenty of fresh air.”

Jean will celebrate her 100th birthday on April 26. Although a native of Dumfries, she came to live in Lilliesleaf, where her brother, a former forces chaplain with the Royal Air Force, was a minister.

Jean’s nephew, David, is the fifth generation of the Jamieson family to be ordained as a minister.

After Jean’s brother retired from the ministry, she accompanied him to Melrose, where they lived almost opposite the building she has called home for the last few years.

“After my brother died, I didn’t really have to move very far – just over the road really,” Jean told us.

The former classics teacher at Ayr Academy is still a regular attender at church and loves being out in the St John’s garden.

A KELSO businessman says the local authority is missing out by refusing to use professional services offered by local experts in place of financial developer contributions of the sort charged when someone builds a new house.

Colin McGrath, who is also a local Kelso community councillor, is applying for planning consent to build a house for himself and his wife on a site in the Kelso area.

At first, Mr McGrath was told by Scottish Borders Council (SBC) that his developer contribution, which would go towards Eccles Primary School and the new Berwickshire High School at Duns, would total £6,000.

Then, last month, he was told the contribution towards the primary school was no longer needed, but that still left a bill of £3,860 towards the high school.

However, the local authority’s guidance on developer contributions states that the contribution can be “in kind”, rather than financial.

To this end, Mr McGrath, a fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development and a member of the board of both the Institute of Hospitality Management and the Institute of Management, contacted the council and offered his professional services in the shape of courses for senior pupils in lieu of a financial developer levy.

“What I was offering was to run courses on career planning, how to get a job, how to secure an interview, CV writing and so on,” Mr McGrath explained to TheSouthern this week.

“However, I was informed this would contravene government policies and would not address infrastructure issues at the high school.

“But I would have thought helping ensure local youngsters secure good jobs when they leave school would have been worth more than a monetary contribution.”

Mr McGrath says, that as far as he is aware, the issue of developer contributions being levied on people building one dwelling for their own use, has never been debated by the full SBC.

“I wonder how many ordinary people planning to build their own home are aware this is what happens,” said Mr McGrath.

He says that charging a speculative developer is one thing, but when someone is building a house for themselves, it should not be classed as the same kind of thing.

“In Edinburgh and Dumfries and Galloway, you need to be building 10 or more houses before developer contributions are levied – it should be the same here.”

A spokesperson for SBC said payments in kind would only be considered in “very exceptional circumstances”.

He further explained that the policy allows for consideration to be given to payments in kind but these have to be directly related to what the payment itself would have funded.

Developer contributions are generally sought for capital works – bricks and mortar – and not for revenue purposes such as the ongoing costs of delivering the service. If an applicant or developer is able to pay in kind, for example by undertaking some of the building works themselves, that may be looked upon favourably.

Commenting on Mr McGrath’s case, the spokesman added: “In this particular case, however, I understand the applicant was offering to provide his professional services to the school but the developer contributions that are being sought are retrospective contributions towards the costs of constructing the school which has already been built, therefore the in kind offer would not have been appropriate.”

EDUCATION boss Glenn Rodger has been named as Scottish Borders Council’s third chief executive in the past two months.

Permanent post holder Tracey Logan has been absence for around six weeks, and her temporary replacement Andrew Lowe has now been signed off sick.

A SBC spokesman said: “The director of social work Andrew Lowe was taken ill over the weekend. It is anticipated he will be off work for the month of April.

“The director of education and lifelong learning Glenn Rodger will act as chief executive of SBC in the absence of Tracey Logan.”

BREAST, bowel and lung cancer accounts for about half of the avoidable deaths in Scotland and yet cancer is more treatable now than it has ever been.

That is why NHS Borders is backing the national Detect Cancer Early campaign to encourage people to get checked because the earlier cancer is found the easier it is to treat.

John Rainey, consultant surgeon and lead clinician for cancer services in the Borders, says huge inroads have been made into reducing waiting times for cancer patients so that treatment can begin as quickly as possible after diagnosis.

“I know it can take people a long time to pluck up courage to go and see their GP when they think they might have cancer or they think they might be wasting the doctor’s time because their symptoms seem quite minor.

“All I can say is, it will be far less scary if we can catch it early. It could be nothing at all but at the very least we might be able to put your mind at rest and that is never a waste of time,” he said.

One person who knows the importance of getting checked early is Peebles-born Karen Raeburn. Karen was diagnosed with bowel cancer 10 years ago and believes going to her doctor as soon as she had the first symptoms made all the difference.

“I only had a weekend of symptoms, which started with diarrhoea and developed into blood and mucus when I went to the toilet,” she explained.

“I visited my doctor who asked for a sample and sent it off to the hospital to be tested. I felt fine and after three months and no other symptoms, the hospital contacted me and called me in for a follow-up. At this point I still didn’t think it was serious. In fact, I was going to put the appointment off since there had been no more diarrhoea.

“On March 15, 2002, my doctor arrived at the house to tell me that it was bowel cancer. I was 36 years old and I remember it like it was yesterday. The word cancer hadn’t been mentioned until this day and it all felt surreal. My family were more upset than I was.

“But it started to feel easier once I told people. My sons were eight and 10 and we talked to them about it. I felt it was important for them to understand what was going on but I didn’t make a fuss.

“I had an operation to remove the tumour and they took away 10cm of my bowel. I didn’t need a colostomy bag. This was followed by chemotherapy which lasted for six months.”

Karen was given the all clear 10 years ago and her advice to others is simple. “If you notice any change in bowel movement or spot any blood or mucus then it’s important to go to your doctor and get checked out.

“If caught early there is life after cancer, so don’t be frightened to talk to your doctor.”

a CHARTER that sets out 12 standards and outcomes which social landlords should be achieving for their tenants has been welcomed by the boss of the Scottish Borders Housing Association.

Chief executive Julia Mulloy was responding to Monday’s launch of Scotland’s Social Housing Charter (SHC) by housing and transport minister Keith Brown MSP.

Mr Brown said the charter, which came into force this week, would affect more than 21 per cent of households in the Borders and had been drawn up following extensive consultation with social landlords and their tenants.

“This empowers tenants across the Borders to hold their landlords to account for the services they deliver by stating clearly and in plain language what they and other customers can expect from their landlord,” said Mr Brown.

“We have worked to develop standards and outcomes that the best landlords are already achieving. The challenge now is for all landlords to match the performance of the best.

“It also provides the basis for the new Scottish Housing Regulator to assess and report on how well landlords are performing: to identify where they are doing well and where they need to improve.

“Effective tenant participation is key to landlords delivering services that tenants want and it is crucial landlords take account of the views and priorities of their tenants in shaping their services.

“We will use the regulator’s reports to ensure public investment in new social housing goes only to landlords assessed as doing well.”

Under the SHC, tenants must find it easy to participate in decisions which affect them; must live in well maintained neighbourhoods where they feel safe; and must receive services that provide continually improving value for the rent and other charges they pay.

Cathie Fancy, Scottish Borders Council’s group manager for housing strategy and services, said: “This will clarify the standard of service that people can expect from the council and from the registered social landlords [including SBHA, Eildon, Waverley and Berwickshire] in the Borders.”

Ms Mulloy, whose association has about 6,000 rented properties and is by far the biggest social landlord in the region, said: “I welcome the charter. Our staff, board and our Scottish Borders Tenants Organisation [SBTO] members have been participating in a Scottish Government consultation programme, attending events in Edinburgh and Galashiels over the last year, and we are pleased to see the outcomes of these discussions reflected in the charter.

“SBHA works with tenants to develop services so they can influence the quality and type of service they receive and we are in a strong position to meet the requirements of the charter.

“Over the past year, the SBTO has been central to the success of the ‘pay to stay’ rent campaign as well as the revision of information packs for new tenants and the Church Square neighbourhood project in Galashiels.”

Ms Mulloy said that any SBHA tenants wanting to become involved with the SBTO, should contact tenant participation worker Alison Notman on 01750 724444.

EDINBURGH Castle managed to switch off its lights, as did the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but a Peebles recycling centre has been charged with failing to contribute to Earth Hour by leaving on a set of powerful floodlamps.

A Tweeddale councillor has accused Scottish Borders Council of wasting money and harming the environment by leaving on the bulbs all day and for hours after it is shut.

Earth Hour is supported by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), as well as SBC. During it, hundreds of millions of people across the globe turned off their lights for an hour between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on Saturday.

But the Eshiels roads depot and recycling facility did not take part, despite the council urging Borderers to sit in darkness as part of Earth Hour’s bid to highlight climate change.

Councillor Catriona Bhatia said: “Local residents and I have tried for several years to get the council to switch off or reduce the lighting at the depot when it is not in use but our efforts seem to have been ignored. Even during Earth Hour, which SBC is meant to support, all the floodlights were on till 10pm at night.

“This is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money, not to mention the environmental impact.”

An SBC spokesman said the local authority had supported Earth Hour for the past three years, but since it takes place on Saturday night, its offices had switched off their lights for 60 minutes on Friday.

He added: “There has never been any intention or arrangement made to switch off external lighting at council owned buildings and depots during the official Earth Hour on the Saturday evening.

“Consideration was given to this when SBC first committed to supporting this event but the feedback from various parties was that it was either not possible to switch off at certain locations without incurring significant additional costs, and health and safety was a key consideration.

“There could be additional risks incurred by switching off during this hour of darkness in March – including security of premises, fuel and equipment at the sites.”

Mrs Bhatia replied: “Notwithstanding that, why would lights need to be on from 4pm to 10pm when the recycling centre is closed?

“Minimal lighting for security is understandable but fully floodlit premises is excessive.

“The security argument does not stack up anyway as the lights are switched off from 10pm till the morning.

“And the floodlights were on during the day last week when it was bright sunshine.

“It is also odd that the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh Castle and even Sydney Harbour Bridge were able to have their lights switched off for Earth Hour without security or health and safety issues.”

Fellow Liberal Democrat council candidate in Tweeddale West, Nancy Norman, said: “In these times of reducing budgets, switching off the depot lights at Eshiels would be a good place to start in tackling financial and environmental waste.”

A TRUSTEE of Selkirk’s Haining Estate has defended a decision to give notice to two of its long-term residents.

Susan Edington said the proposal to turn properties in the stable block courtyard into holiday flats had been known since 2010 when plans were first drawn up to invest £1.2million to create six artisan studios.

Mrs Edington was responding to criticism from David Scott, who late last month received a letter from estate agents CKD Galbraith, acting of behalf of the trust, informing him his six-month short-term assured tenancy was not being renewed and that he had, effectively, two months to get out.

Another tenant, Jim Sinclair of Dairy Cottage, has been given six months’ notice to quit.

Mr Scott, 61, has rented a two-bedroomed upstairs flat for the past 11 years and believes the creation of holiday homes is out of kilter with the spirit of the bequest of late owner, Andrew Nimmo-Smith, who died in July 2009 and left historic Haining House and its 160-acre estate “for the benefit of the community of Selkirkshire and the wider public”.

“I am certain it would not have been the wish of this most benevolent man to see tenants evicted to make way for a money-making enterprise, effectively replacing affordable housing – my rent is £300 a month – with holiday homes,” said Mr Scott.

Mrs Edington said the proposals for the artisan studios, which would create local employment and which received planning consent a year ago, were always predicated on some residential properties becoming holiday lets. In the event, only two of the six properties were being converted for that purpose.

“We are working to a 10-year plan which is absolutely driven by both the letter and spirit of Mr Nimmo-Smith’s bequest with the ultimate aim of creating a gallery of modern art at The Haining.

“There was an unfortunate breakdown in communications which resulted in Mr Scott being given notice without first being offered alternative accommodation. I have apologised for this and he has now been offered another empty upstairs property in the stable block complex. To my knowledge, Mr Sinclair has declined a similar offer.”

Mrs Edington explained, however, that she had received legal advice that the current rents were below market value rates and, if this was to continue, the trust would be in breach of its duties as a charity.

Mr Scott said he had yet to decide whether to accept the alternative accommodation because he did not know what his new rent would be.

“It may well be that neither myself nor, indeed, any of the tenants whose rents are also due to be hiked up, can afford to stay here, which would be sad and not at all in the spirt of Mr Nimmo-Smith’s wishes.”

But Ms Edington said that Mr Nimmo-Smith, a lawyer, had insisted on the six-month tenancies for all tenants on the estate.

“I am sorry Mr Scott feels so aggrieved, but the support and goodwill the trust has received from the public who realise we must generate income to achieve our aim, has been overwhelming,” she added.

Tweeddale West: Willie Archibald (SNP), Catriona Judith Steel Bhatia (LD), Nathaniel Buckingham (Con), Nancy Norman (LD), David Pye (BP), Julia Reid (Lab).

Tweeddale East: Stuart Bell (SNP), David Cox (Ind), Graham Garvie (LD), Gavin Logan (Con), Frances Pringle (BP), Robin Tatler (Lab/Co-op).

Galashiels and District: Sandy Aitchison (BP), Bill Herd (SNP), Rick Kenney (LD), Fiona Lackenby (Con), John Mitchell (SNP), Robbie Tatler (Lab), Bill White (Ind).

Selkirkshire: Michelle Ballantyne (Con), Leven Brown (BP), Vicky Davidson (LD), Gordon Edgar (Ind), Kenneth Gunn (SNP), Gordon Harrison (Ind).

Leaderdale and Melrose: Agnes Craig (Lab), Peter Duncan (Con), David Parker (Ind), John Paton-Day (LD), Jim Torrance (SNP), Nicholas Watson (BP).

Mid Berwickshire: John Greenwell (Con), Trevor Jones (Con), Tom Miers (BP), Donald Moffat (SNP), Frances Renton (LD).

East Berwickshire: Joan Umpherston Campbell (SNP), Michael Cook (Ind), Jim Fullarton (Con), Jack Johnston (Ind), Kendrick Lloyd-Jones (Lab), Cat MacDonald-Home (BP), Ken Webb (LD).

Kelso and District: Yvonne Huggins-Haig (Ind), Colin McGrath (Ind), Diana Miers (BP), Simon Mountford (Con), Alec Nicol (LD), Michael Scott (Green), Maggie Stanford (SNP), Tom Weatherson (Con).

Jedburgh and District: John Bathgate (LD), Jim Brown (SNP), Trevor Jackson (BP), Sandy Scott (Con), David Robert Scott Sharp (Lab), Rory Stewart (Ind).

Hawick and Denholm: Craig Bryson (Ind), Alastair Cranston (SNP), Mary Douglas (BP), Zandra Elliot (Con), Michael Grieve (Lab/Co-op), Stuart Marshall (Ind), Watson McAteer (LD).

Hawick and Hermitage: Bill Cumming (Lab), Kevin Ferguson (Green), Frank Little (BP), Davie Paterson (Ind), Ron Smith (LD), Tommy Stevenson (SNP), George Turnbull (Con).

z Key to Parties: BP – Borders Party; Con – Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party; Green – Scottish Green Party; Ind – Independent; Lab – Scottish Labour Party; Lab/Co-op – The Labour and Co-operative Party; LD – Scottish Liberal Democrat Party.

THE chief executive of the Borders’ largest private landowner has described the organisation’s return to profit as a significant step in the right direction, writes Kenny Paterson.

The Buccleuch Group’s annual company results show £700,000 was made in 2011 after recording big losses of £5.6million in 2010.

The property and agriculture enterprise says its losses have now declined from almost £18million in 2008. Debt was reduced by £4million, despite the group suffering property impairment charges of £4.7million, up from £2.8million in 2010.

Chief executive John Glen, pictured, whose organisation oversees the Bowhill and Langholm estates which cover large areas of the Borders, said: “Today’s encouraging results are a significant step in the right direction for the group; our strategy has resulted in substantial debt reduction and a return to profit after three very challenging years. 2011 was the second year in which we refocused on our core activities while developing our competencies and capabilities in growth markets and we will continue on this path.

“In terms of commercial property, the market remained largely moribund.

“However, there was buoyancy in the central London prime residential market and also Aberdeen, and the Buccleuch Property Investment portfolio held up well.”

Mr Glen said investment would be made in Buccleuch’s hospitality and tourism sector, attempting to utilise its natural and heritage assets.

He added: “Looking forward to 2012, we consolidated the investment assets of the Buccleuch Property Fund into our investment property portfolio to create a single investment property platform.

“We have added key resources into our hospitality and biomass businesses, where we hope to generate significant new activity, while continuing to develop our business in both the commercial property and energy sectors.”

NEARLY two-thirds of those who voted on a proposal for the region’s first community wind farm in Selkirk are in favour of some kind of development – but are evenly split on which of three options is best, writes Andrew Keddie.

The Selkirk Regeneration Company (SRC), which organised the postal poll, courted controversy when it announced in February that voting was open to anyone in the TD7 (Selkirkshire) postcode area, including those born before August 15, 2000.

The results, announced this week, do not indicate how many 11-year-olds took part in the referendum. They do, however, reveal that 949 people, out of the 3,700 households circulated with ballot papers, actually voted. And of these, 63 per cent were in favour of at least one of the SRC’s three options for a community wind farm, with 37 per cent voting “no” to any turbines.

SRC believes this is an emphatic mandate to develop some kind of wind turbine project for the town.

However, when it meets later this month to decide the way forward, it will learn there is no clear steer for any of the options.

For a breakdown of the “yes” votes reveals that 394 people (33.5 per cent) voted for three giant turbines on land at Sunderland Hall north of the town, each generating 2,300kW, bringing in annual income of £670,000, and costing £6.8million to build and develop. A total of 391 people (33.3 per cent) voted for a single 800kW turbine on the town’s South Common, bringing in annual income of £110,000 and costing £1.6million to create. And 389 people (33.1 per cent) went for a third option – three 50kW turbines, also on the South Common, generating annual income of £11,000 and costing £710,000 to develop.

“With the positive votes shared so evenly, the decision of which option to pursue is not clear,” admitted a spokesperson for the SRC this week. “However, the vote demonstrates that the swell of opinion in the TD7 area is in favour of developing a wind turbine project of some kind in the town.

“We are delighted so many people felt engaged with, and interested in, our project. We are also pleased people took the trouble to vote and, although voting was evenly spread across the three options, we hope we shall be able to develop a project which will satisfy the majority who have voted so positively in favour of pursuing environmentally-clean energy and all the benefits this will bring to our area.”

But scorn was poured on the outcome, and the SRC’s interpretation of it, by two of Selkirkshire’s three councillors.

Councillor Kenneth Gunn (SNP) told us: “My first reaction is that I’m sorry the regeneration company could not get many more people interested in a wind farm than Dr Lindsay Neil [vice-chairman of the community council and founder member of SRC’s predecessor, the Selkirk Regeneration Group] managed four years ago in a vote confined to Selkirk only.

“There are about 8,000 voters in the Selkirkshire ward and that does not include the 11-17-year-olds who cannot legally vote, but were allowed to take part in this exercise, so the SRC cannot exactly be delighted with such a poor showing.

“I have to wonder if the small numbers who did actually vote will be sufficient to bring any international developer into the suggested schemes.”

Councillor Carolyn Riddell-Carre said: “The figures supplied by the SRC show that for each of the options, a majority of voters, between 58 and 59 per cent, said ‘no’ and that is clearly not the mandate the company was seeking.

“I recently had a most interesting meeting with the pupil council at Selkirk High and a number of children said they thought the answer would be to get power from the river [the Ettrick Water].

“This is where we should be going ... that river powered Selkirk for generations and we should be following the example of Philiphaugh Estate [which is installing an Archimedean screw water turbine at Murray’s Cauld] and looking to generate power from the town’s stretch of the Ettrick Water.

“There is value in trying to generate power from Selkirk’s assets, but getting it from the river would not be visually intrusive and would long outlast noisy windmills.”

The poll results will be discussed by the SRC at its annual general meeting in the County Hotel on Wednesday, April 25, at 7pm.

BACK in the 2001 General Election, Peter Duncan had the distinction of being the sole Scottish Tory MP when he took the Galloway and Upper Nithsdale seat from the SNP.

Mr Duncan was later named chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party, but, in 2005, his constituency was abolished and he lost out to Labour’s Russell Brown in Dumfries and Galloway, succumbing to the same rival again in 2010.

Last week, Mr Duncan, who now lives near Earlston, was confirmed as his party’s candidate for Leaderdale and Melrose – the only SBC ward currently without a Tory member. It is likely to be a key battleground because the ward is already represented by SBC leader David Parker, Borders Party leader Nicholas Watson and Lib Dem backbencher John Paton-Day, who are all re-contesting.

In their campaign leaflet, the Conservatives cite their achievements as part of the ruling administration over the last five years, including “maintaining our sound grip of the council’s finances, despite global financial meltdown”.

BY contesting eight of the 11 multi-member wards, the Labour Party in the Borders, which currently has not a single councillor on SBC, will field a record number of candidates.

Michael Grieve, secretary of the constituency party and himself seeking election in Hawick and Denholm, said: “There is a strong desire for change in the Borders.”

A full-time carer, he added: “People know that four more years of the same is not going to be enough to deliver the services and therefore the kind of future we in the Borders need. We will stand up for health and education and for fairness for every Borderer.”

Among Labour’s hopefuls are Julia Reid, a retired mental health counsellor who represented Peebles for Labour on the former Borders Regional Council and goes for Tweeddale East, ex-SBC employee David Sharp (Jedburgh and District) and Bill Cumming, a former English teacher at Hawick High who is competing in Hawick and Hermitage.