Broadband speeds in the Borders are the second slowest in Scotland, a new report reveals.

Only Orkney’s internet users have a greater need for speed than those here, according to an Audit Scotland progress update on the rollout of superfast broadband nationwide published yesterday.

Faster broadband is available in all the rest of the country’s 32 local authority areas, including the Western Isles and Shetland, and several boast average speeds nearly twice as rapid as can be had here.

The report concludes that the Scottish Government will find it difficult to keep its R100 programme pledge that every home and business in the country will be able to access speeds of 30 megabits per second by the end of 2021.

Though overall connection speeds have increased, around a quarter of those in rural areas such as the Borders still cannot get speeds of 10mbps or more.

More than a fifth of premises here fall short of that target, making the region the seventh worst in Scotland by that criterion.

Those figures have prompted calls to ministers to buck up their act, with Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire MSP Rachael Hamilton saying: “Businesses and residents in my constituency know first hand the problems of accessing fast and reliable broadband.

“The Scottish National Party claim to be delivering superfast broadband to all. We know this simply isn’t the case, and they are trying to pull the wool over Borderers’ eyes.

“Audit Scotland have laid bare the issues of slow broadband speeds, and the SNP cannot run away from the facts.

“We know that the R100 programme completion date has already been pushed back by 12 months, and, with the findings of this report, I am unsure as to whether they can actually deliver what they promising.

“I am glad the report highlights the work of the UK Government on the Borderlands deal business case, which includes telecoms infrastructure investment.”

Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk MP John Lamont, a fellow Conservative, agrees, saying: “While Scottish ministers are boasting about how well they are doing, too many residents and businesses in the Borders are still without decent broadband.

“The SNP’s timetable for this gets later and later, and the R100 programme is yet to begin.

“While the UK as a whole has managed to make progress, in Scotland we are still lagging too far behind, and we also know that many properties which are meant to be connected still can’t get superfast broadband.

“The Borders is particularly struggling, with nearly one in five properties still without a decent service. This is simply not good enough, and the SNP’s failure to deliver is holding Scottish businesses back and is unfair for consumers.”

Michelle Ballantyne MSP for South Scotland has highlighted the Audit Scotland report as a concern for businesses and residents in the Borders and has called on the Scottish Government to ensure that internet connectivity in the Borders improves.

South Sctland Tory list MSP Michelle Ballantyne added: “In 2018, the reliability and speed of our internet is as important as the roads that we drive on.

“It’s incredibly important to businesses and residents in the Borders that our internet is up to speed.

“The conclusions from this week’s Audit Scotland report are concerning.

“In order to boost business and improve growth in the Borders, it is essential that our digital connectivity is fit for purpose. Right now this is not the case.

“The Scottish Government must respond to the statistics highlighted in this report and examine how they will improve connectivity in our area.”

The Scottish Government has committed £600m in initial investment to deliver superfast broadband to 147,000 more premises, with contracts to be awarded early next year, but further investment might be required to reach all premises.

Fraser McKinlay, Audit Scotland’s director of performance audit and best value, said: “Fast, reliable internet access is now considered an essential part of everyday life.

“Good progress has been made to date, but the toughest hurdle remains – to extend the benefits to everyone, particularly remote and rural communities.

“As well as being the toughest hurdle, it is not yet clear how the Scottish Government is going to fulfil its pledge to deliver superfast broadband to everyone by the end of 2021.”

Sara Budge, programme director for Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband, is upbeat about the report, however, saying: “We are all delighted with the findings of the Audit Scotland report and its recognition of how far the programme has progressed fibre broadband deployment across the country, starting from a 0% baseline in the Highlands and islands to as little as 25% in the rest of Scotland’s rural local authority areas.

“More than 95% of properties can now access fibre broadband thanks to the programme and commercial coverage.

“Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband has not only met its targets but is on time and under budget.

“It’s a fantastic achievement and, coupled with our innovation, we are extending our rural reach and driving speed uplifts further.

“It’s been a huge collective but very satisfying challenge.

“Over 900,000 homes and business across Scotland can now access fibre broadband thanks to the programme.”

Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale MSP Christine Grahame, an SNP representative, also believes the report offers more cause for celebration than criticism, saying: “Broadband access is in fact a matter reserved to the Tory UK Government. However, if it hadn’t been for the intervention of the Scottish Government, the percentage of premises connected to fibre broadband in the Borders would be 39.3%, rather than the current 91.4%.

“This report recognises that the rollout won’t be easy to deliver, but that is why this SNP Government has matched its ambition for broadband with £600m of investment – the biggest public investment ever made in a UK broadband project.

“I would highlight that the report also praises the Scottish Government for exceeding its target of 95% fibre broadband coverage across Scotland by the end of 2017 and that, due to higher than expected take-up and lower than expected costs, the programme will in fact reach 60,300 more premises than planned at no extra cost to the public sector.

“It’s absolutely disgraceful that, despite being a reserved matter, the UK Government’s funding contribution to R100 is just 3% of the total.

“Perhaps Ms Ballantyne and her Tory colleagues should focus on putting pressure on the Tory UK Government to step up to the plate and better support Scotland’s ambitions.”

To see the report, go to www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/report/superfast-broadband-for-scotland-further-progress-update

Fears that crime is on the up in Kelso have been emphatically dismissed.

Provost Dean Weatherston told last week’s meeting of Kelso Community Council that many residents feel crime rates are rising in the town.

He said it followed the publication of the monthly police report, which listed 48 reports of crime throughout August, including driving offences, on the council’s Facebook page.

“I think people think it’s bad when they see a report like that in isolation,” he said. “I took it down because I felt they were getting the wrong impression of the town.”

But Kelso councillor Tommy Weatherston insisted that the town is one of the best places to live in the Borders and said circulating the crime report was beneficial.

“I think the crime rate is a huge bonus for Kelso. We sell houses in Kelso on the back of the crime rates,” he said.

“Kelso is one of the best places in the Borders to live, and the crime rate is practically zero compared to other areas.”

Police constable Suzanne Howgego said that there had not been any significant changes in the number of incidents reported in recent months.

“There was one high-profile incident last month, at the rugby club, which is being dealt with, but overall it’s pretty steady,” she said.

Answering a query from community council vice-chairman Gavin Horsburgh about a comparison between Kelso, Hawick and Galashiels, she added: “There is no comparison – their crime levels are a lot higher.”

A motorist has been banned from the road for six months after admitting charges of careless driving and having no insurance in Hawick on February 20.

David Stephenson, 30, of Allars Bank, Hawick, also pleaded guilty to driving a van with no MoT, not wearing an adult seatbelt and having a bald tyre and defective brake.

He was also fined a total of £740 at Jedburgh Sheriff Court.

Volunteers with an award-winning floral group are doing it for themselves after losing confidence in Scottish Borders Council’s commitment to provide bedding plants.

Lauder in Bloom, last week awarded a Beautiful Scotland Gold award for the second year running, is set to cultivate its own plants for the town’s flowerbeds and hanging baskets.

That decision comes following the council’s sudden announcement back in April that it would no longer provide communities with bedding plants after this year.

The authority later backtracked in the face of a huge public backlash and promised to provide bedding plants for 2019 after all.

Lauder in Bloom says it can no longer rely on the council, though, and is planning to grow its own flowers in a newly-sourced greenhouse.

Speaking at last week’s meeting of Lauderdale Community Council, Lauder in Bloom chairman Alistair Smith said: “The council said they were going to stop providing bedding plants immediately, then they postponed that for a year and we are getting bedding plants from the council for spring.

“However, we had already made a decision that we are going to get on with it ourselves because there may be another change, by which time it will be too late.

“As a result, we have decided to grow our own plants.

“We have been given a greenhouse and we have a small team of volunteers who will look after that. We are now looking for funding for a heater and some plants.

“If anyone has got any flowers or plants that they are splitting in their gardens, let us know because we are looking for some perennials.”

Mr Smith said there may be some changes to the town’s floral displays as the group implements the new regime, but he insisted all the beds would continue to be looked after.

“If you do see beds looking empty during the winter, it’s just that we are working on things,” he said.

“The idea is to have more perennials rather than bedding plants, but the permanent beds near the town hall will be bright and beautiful.

“The hanging baskets for next year will be the same as this year, and we will be doing festive greenery.”

Plans are being finalised for next month’s procession in memory of the creator of the iconic Ken the Horse memorial in Hawick, to be staged 100 years to the day after the sculptor’s death.

Townsfolk are invited to turn out in large numbers to pay tribute to William Beattie on Wednesday, October 3, for a walk from Lovel Court to the 1514 memorial.

Hawick-born Beattie was just 31 when he died of battlefield wounds at a field hospital near Joncourt in northern France on October 3, 1918, weeks before the end of the First World War.

Four years earlier, his greatest work, Hawick’s horse statue, had been unveiled on the 400th anniversary of the 1514 skirmish at Hornshole it commemorates, a victory for the youths of the town over an English raiding party.

The procession is being organised by Hawick Archaeological Society as a way of commemorating Beattie’s lasting legacy.

Society member, historian and former Hawick High School teacher Ian Landles will also be giving an illustrated talk as part of other commemorations marking Beattie’s untimely passing.

He is urging Teries to go along to “commemorate one of their own”, adding: “We wanted to do something because the horse is such an iconic memorial, so we set up a wee committee and the idea came from that.

“My father’s cousin William Landles, who was one of the top Scottish sculptors, reckoned it was one of the finest equestrian statues in Britain and equalled anything in London, and it means such a lot to Hawick folk of course.

“It’s on all sorts of logos and letterheads and is a symbol of what happened in 1514 and the background to the common riding.

“It was unveiled in common riding week in 1914, and William Beattie was there.

“After he was killed, his father came and carved the sad intimation of his son’s death on the base of the memorial.

“Beattie had been commissioned to do it. There were various people who submitted entries to do the memorial, and it was his that was chosen because it was so striking.

“There’s a lot of interesting things about it. For example, the young boy is seen returning in triumph, but if you look at the horse you can see it’s been in a battle.

“The sad thing is he would have gone on to achieve so much more.

“He had, all being well, 50 years ahead of him as a sculptor and many new projects, but that wasn’t to be.

“We definitely want people to come along and replicate what happens on common riding Thursday night, when the town’s people walk behind the cornet.

“The colours will be there, but it’s not a military parade.

“We want it to be just a procession of ordinary Hawick folk, commemorating one of their own.”

The procession sets off from Lovel Court at 6.15pm and arrives at the memorial for 6.30pm. Hawick Drums and Fifes, Hawick Saxhorn Band and the Hawick Scout Pipe Band will be playing on the night.

October 3’s procession isn’t the only celebration of the all too short life of Beattie being lined up.

A week afterwards, Ian will be accompanying a group of townsfolk to Tincourt New British Cemetery, near where the Battle of the Somme was fought, for the laying of a wreath on Beattie’s grave.

There’s a chance to find out more about Beattie’s life and works when Mr Landles and fellow Hawick Archaeological Society member Alan Brydon give an illustrated talk, entitled William Beattie and the 1514 Memorial, on Tuesday, October 2, in the high school’s assembly hall, from 7.30pm, too.

An exhibition on Beattie is also being staged at the Borders Textile Towerhouse, at Tower Knowe, from October 3 to the following Wednesday, October 10.

Plans are being drawn up to build seven storage workshops on former farmland at Galashiels.

Wilson G Jamieson Fencing and Forestry has put in an application to Scottish Borders Council for the workshops and an extra business unit at Farknowes Yard in Langshaw Road.

The company acquired the Farknowes site in the summer of 2012, its previous owner being Forth Meat Suppliers.

A council report says: “The workshop units will be operated and let by Wilson G Jamieson from within its existing premises. Each unit will have its own element of staffing. It is likely that each unit would not have more than one person. The larger business unit is expected to have two or three staff.”

One of the units would be a two-storey one to be used as a dog day care business.

The report adds: “The proposed development will have very little impact upon the landscape setting of the site.”

“It is very much in keeping with the existing agricultural-style sheds.”

A Hawick firm has folded after nearly four decades trading, with the reported loss of 33 jobs.

Builders John Rae Ltd, owned by London-based businessman David Meddings, has entered voluntary liquidation amid spiralling debt.

Accounts for the year ended September 30, 2017, reveal debts doubled from £326,000 in 2016 to £666,000 last year.

Creditors’ amounts falling due within one year – the amounts owed repayable over the longer term – rose from £541,000 to £914,000 during the same period.

The Bourtree Place firm, founded by John and Elizabeth Rae in 1980, started as a small building and refurbishment company, later branching out into energy efficient heating installation. At its peak it employed 80 people.

A meeting of creditors is due to take place next Thursday in Hamilton.

The news comes as a further blow to the town, following last month’s announcement that Homebase will close its Galalaw store, which employs 27 people, in December.

A Scottish Borders Council spokesman said: “We extend our sympathies to the staff of John Rae Ltd and their families at this difficult time.

“We worked with Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to set up a Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) event for the employees on Wednesday at the Borders College campus.

“The event was well attended, with representatives from Unite the Union, Citizens Advice Bureau, Pension Wise, Job Centre, SDS, Business Gateway, Borders College and relevant council services in attendance to offer support. A number of apprentices were also offered support through the Adopt an Apprentice programme.”

Skills Development Scotland is also arranging an internal PACE event for staff from Homebase in Hawick on Tuesday, October 2.

The spokesman added: “PACE events provide skills development and employability support and help those affected to get back to work as quickly as possible. We would encourage any Homebase employees to take advantage of this help and support.”

Nobody can deny that Scottish rugby hero Doddie Weir is a jolly good fellow, and bosses at Borders College aren’t about to try.

On the contrary, so say all of them as they’ve named the 61-times-capped lock as their honorary fellow for 2018.

The Galashiels-based college’s honorary fellowship award for this year is being made to Doddie, of Blainslie, in recognition of his contributions to sport, business and charity work.

The 48-year-old will be presented with that award this Friday, September 28, at the college’s annual graduation ceremony, being held at Springwood Park in Kelso.

He’ll be among more than 500 graduates and guests there on the night to celebrate their own personal success stories.

Edinburgh-born Doddie began his professional rugby career at Melrose in 1991, remaining there until he moved south to play for Newcastle Falcons from 1995 to 2002 before ending his playing days with the now-disbanded Border Reivers in 2005.

Doddie, educated at Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College and the Scottish Agricultural College in Edinburgh, will be the 21st honorary fellow named by the Borders educational establishment.

His predecessors include former City of Edinburgh Council leader Keith Geddes in 1998, rally driver John Cleland in 1999, politician Lord Steel of Aikwood in 2002, ex-Southern Reporter journalist Jill Douglas in 2004 and horse-racing champion Ian Stark in 2007.

Scotland rugby head coach Gregor Townsend in 2000, Scottish international footballer John Collins in 2011, fellow rugby international Chris Paterson in 2013, bookshop boss Rosamund de la Hey in 2015 and charity champion Wilma Gunn in 2016 are among the others to have been made honorary fellows of the college.

Over 1,000 science fans from across the Borders donned their lab coats and safety specs and headed for Melrose on Saturday for the Bang Goes the Borders science festival.

Guest scientists from all over Scotland brought the wonders of their laboratories into St Mary’s School to entertain and educate youngsters on all things science, for the free event organised by the school.

Now in its eighth year, the one-day festival featured more than 30 different hands-on activities and workshops aimed at youngsters from 5 to 13 years.

Those youngsters tried their hand at activities including boat building, bag designing and apple juice making with volunteers from organisations including the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Tweed Foundation, Glasgow Science Centre, A Greener Melrose and university professors from St Andrews and Edinburgh.

Staff and students from the country’s universities and schools also manned lessons and activities throughout the day.

St Mary’s School headmaster Liam Harvey said: “It was a huge success. We saw over 1,000 visitors over the threshold.

“We have had nothing but extremely positive feedback which is really pleasing to hear.

“This was our eight science festival so we’re really chuffed it went so well.”

More than 11,000 Borders homes experienced some kind of power interruption during the battering administered to the region by Storm Ali last Wednesday (September 18).

During the storm, widespread damage was caused to power lines as hundreds of trees were uprooted in severe wind gusts of over 80mph, and Scottish Power’s

Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN), which operates the electricity transmission and distribution network in the region, was certainly kept busy during the storm, as well as in the aftermath.

More than 600 people worked on the storm response, including 100 engineers who travelled up from the north of England and Wales, which were not so badly hit, and the operator said it was able to restore power supplies to the majority of homes before the end of Wednesday.

The recovery work on Thursday and Friday involved some very complex and time consuming repairs. Most of the faults encountered involved tree cutting, replacement of broken poles and fallen power lines.

Fault locations were also difficult to access due to road closures and hundreds of fallen trees.

SPEN also said that customer service teams were in contact with people who were off supply for an extended time to offer additional support, including generators and hot food.

The Red Cross also supported the response, visiting around 100 vulnerable customers to issue support packs.

Guy Jefferson, customer service director at SP Energy Networks, said that the fact that most trees still have their leaves was one of the main reasons so many came down.

He said: “This is the worst September storm to hit our network in a very long time.

“Severe winds in late summer can be more problematic than a winter storm.

“Even though we can see higher wind speeds later in the year, we have never seen so many trees come down.

“With the leaves still in full bloom, the wind basically dragged the trees out of the ground, snapping our poles and bringing down wires.

“We would like to thank customers for their patience and for the good nature they showed to our engineers and customer service teams.

“Our teams worked tirelessly to get supplies back up and running as quickly as possible.

“Some of the network was very badly damaged, and our engineers will be carrying out further patrols and permanent repair work over the course of this week.”

A Borders theatre is celebrating after hitting the £70,000 fundraising target it needed to reach in just two months to secure a further £280,000 to pay for a major revamp.

That means the Eastgate Theatre in Peebles can press ahead with its redevelopment plans.

A European Leader grant accounts for £150,000 of the money now unlocked, and the other £130,000 amassed by the theatre, a former church, is a mix of further grants, donations and proceeds of fundraising events.

The first phase of the theatre’s revamp project, due for completion by the end of next summer, is to upgrade its auditorium to make it more customer-friendly and increase its capacity.

Edinburgh-based Simpson and Brown Architects has drawn up plans that will see the existing retractable seating bank replaced by padded seats offering more legroom.

Seats alongside the venue’s central aisle will be fitted with hand grabs to help customers move up and down the steps there more easily and safely.

The current balcony seats offering only a restricted view of the stage will be replaced by about 24 new seats on stepped platforms. They will be designed to give a full view of proceedings below after two sections of solid balcony are replaced by steel rail and glass panels.

The addition of swivel stools in the section of the balconies closest to the stage will allow the theatre to offer some seats at reduced prices.

Low-level safety lighting will be fitted in new side balconies, and heating ducts will be installed to deliver hot air at floor level.

David Younger, chairman of the theatre’s board of directors, said: “The Eastgate board would like to thank most sincerely the Eastgate staff, the Friends of the Eastgate and all donors who rose magnificently to the challenge of raising a sizeable sum of money in a very short space of time.

“The theatre was first developed in 2004 by the efforts of the local community, and it is heartening for all of us to realise that all these years later it is still so valued.

“By levering the European Leader grant, the local fundraising has made a huge impact locally.

“This, combined with the success of general manager Caroline Adam in attracting other significant capital grants, will help to ensure that the people of Tweeddale and much further afield have an arts venue well equipped to meet future needs.”

Talks are now under way about progressing to phase two of the proposed revamp by carrying out works to reconfigure its foyer andcafe areas.

A celebration was held at the venue on Saturday to mark its success in bridging its £70,000 funding gap in a matter of weeks, and among those there was Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale MP David Mundell.

He said: “The Eastgate centre is a first-class facility which is a tremendous asset for Peebles residents and a growing number of visitors.

“Their latest fundraising success reflects great credit on the team who are seeing their ambitious vision realised and which will encourage more people to use the building.”

No action is to be taken against two farmers for trying to disrupt a major cycling event held on closed roads in the Borders just over a year ago.

Police charged two men, aged 71 and 60, after participants in last September’s Tour o’ the Borders claimed they were confronted by protesters waving sticks.

Cyclists alleged they were hit on their heads by the pair as they passed them, causing at least one to fall off his bike.

There had been complaints from some landowners over the closure of public roads in Peeblesshire for the 74-mile challenge involving 2,000 cyclists while harvesting was under way.

The procurator fiscal’s office at Selkirk has confirmed that, following a review of evidence, there will be no legal proceedings in connection with the incident.

The incident was captured on a video showing two men dressed in tweed and flat caps waving sticks and attempting to block the path of the cyclists on the A701 Edinburgh-Dumfries road near Broughton.

One cyclist said: “I came around the corner behind the first group of cyclists, and I noticed they had all slowed down.

“I could see some weaving around, with other cyclists ahead, and noticed two older guys around 70 to 80 years old walking on the road.

“I cycled up towards them and noticed they were both holding out big sticks. I asked them what has happened and was there a problem ahead?

“One of them said ‘you are the problem’. I had to stop my bike and then I pushed with my foot to get past them.”

Their behaviour was branded “disgusting” by event organisers at the time and it was claimed one cyclist had to be taken to hospital after falling off his bike.

However, this year’s Tour o’ the Borders three weeks ago passed off peacefully, with no further incidents reported.

Event organiser Neil Dalgleish said: “We had already been involved in extensive consultation with local people to ensure there was minimum inconvenience.

“Some people like to protest just to make a noise.

“This year’s event was very successful, and we are glad these gentlemen seem to have learned their lesson.”

A sheep farmer from New Zealand has been hit with a £700 court bill for assaulting a fellow reveller during this year’s Selkirk Common Riding.

Jackson Wallace, currently of Lairg in Sutherland, pleaded guilty to headbutting Gavin Ross in a beer tent at a horse-racing event at the festival on June 15.

Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser said the 25-year-old had been having what he described as a “pleasant chat” with Mr Ross as they both played rugby and both had a knowledge of New Zealand when he suddenly butted him, leaving him with a nosebleed and two black eyes.

Former Selkirk scrum half Wallace, due to head back to New Zealand later this week, was ordered to pay £200 compensation to his victim and fined £500.

Two brothers responsible for a vicious attack in a Hawick street in broad daylight using their victim’s crutches as a weapon have been jailed for eight months each.

Colin Adamson, 19, and elder brother Shane, 21, rained blows down on Jason Lowe as he lay defenceless on the ground, as well as kicking him to the head and body.

The attack, said to have been sparked by a dispute over money owed, was captured on CCTV, and that footage was played at Selkirk Sheriff Court.

It only ended after a passing motorist stopped his vehicle to intervene, prompting the brothers to run off.

The pair were jailed for 243 days apiece.

Colin Adamson’s sentence will start on February 13, 2019, after a current jail term expires.

Shane Adamson’s sentence was backdated to August 28, that being when he was first remanded in custody in connection with the offence.

Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser said: “The astonishing thing is that, given the ferocity of this assault, there was no injury.”

He said the consequences could have been far worse and praised a “very brave” passer-by for going to Mr Lowe’s aid and scaring the brothers off.

The fiscal asked that the video be played to the court “because it shows things I could not possibly describe”.

The Adamsons, both from Hawick, pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Lowe by punching and kicking him repeatedly to the head and body and repeatedly striking him on the head and body with his crutches in North Bridge Street, Hawick, on June 11.

Sheriff Kevin Drummond described their onslaught as a “callous and vicious assault”.

A woman has been charged with careless driving after a pedestrian was hit by a car in Earlston.

The incident happened in Melrose Road at 6.50pm on Saturday, September 15.

A 66-year-old woman was seriously injured when she was struck by a car.

The woman had been accessing her boot when she was hit by another car.

She became trapped between the two vehicles and had to be freed by firefighters using specialist cutting equipment,

She was taken by ambulance to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary with serious leg injuries.

Police have this week charged a 48-year-old woman with careless driving following the collision. A report has been sent to the Procurator Fiscal.

A 36-year-old man has been hit with a £1,200 bill at Selkirk Sheriff Court for punching a female police constable in the face.

Neil Cruikshank, of Horsbrugh Castle Farm Cottages, near Peebles, pleaded guilty to struggling violently with two police constables in Innerleithen High Street on July 22 and also behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.

He was fined £900 and ordered to pay £300 to the police officer he hit.

The Borders is falling behind most of the rest of Scotland in terms of the amount of waste being sent to landfill.

According to figures released this week by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), the country as a whole recycled more waste (1.12 million tonnes) than it sent to landfill (1.11 million tonnes) for the first time in 2017.

However, when that is broken down into council areas, Borderers sent 57.2% of its waste to landfill – the third largest percentage in Scotland, behind Glasgow (67.2%) and the Western Isles (64.7%).

That percentage for Scottish Borders Council is slightly better than that of 2016 (59.1%), but while it appears to be heading in the right direction, it still has some way to go to catch up with our neighbours.

And the Borders was also third highest in the weight of waste sent to landfill per person (0.27 tonnes) along with Argyll and Bute, and Aberdeenshire. Only the Western Isles (0.35 tonnes) and Highland (0.31 tonnes) were higher.

Our region did manage to recycle 0.9% more of its waste than in 2016, and that is what the council chose to highlight when we asked for comment.

A spokesman told us: “SEPA’s annual report shows an increase in the amount of waste being recycled and a reduction in the level of waste being sent to landfill in the Borders. The council thanks Borders households who have played their part by recycling and with Recycle Week currently under way, would encourage all residents to think about how they can recycle more, in particular plastics.

“As part of the council’s waste management plan, which aims to deliver a waste service which is fit for purpose, financially sustainable and reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill, a number of positive steps have been taken in recent years.

“These include various community recycling centre upgrades, a new food waste collection service, new cooking oil collection service introduced at all our recycling centres this year and the opening of our third reuse cabin this week at Eshiels Recycling Centre, which allows unwanted household items to be reused by local social enterprises.”

The spokesman also remarked upon the fact that the council ranks third best [for recycling] in the “rural family group” of Scottish councils (Western Isles, Argyll and Bute, Shetland, Highland, Orkney, Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway and Aberdeenshire) which, the council says, demonstrates the difficulty of recycling in rural areas.

As far as future planning is concerned, the council has started building its new waste transfer station at Easter Langlee, which will store waste before it is taken out of the region by lorries, most likely to sites in England or Wales.

The spokesman added: “Construction of the new waste transfer station at Easter Langlee is under way, which will allow waste to be diverted away from landfill, and will assist the council in complying with landfill bans that come into force in 2021.

“It will also assist the council in working towards national and European recycling and landfill targets.”

Scottish Borders Council has taken an inaugural step towards becoming the first local authority in Scotland to merge with a National Health Service board.

At a meeting of the full council today, September 25, councillors agreed to alert the Scottish Government’s local governance review that they are open to the idea of a potential merger with NHS Borders.

The proposals would see the combined council and health trust take charge of 9,000 staff and a budget of more than £400m of public money.  

In a report presented to the council by Michael Cook, formerly depute leader of the council but now serving as the authority’s corporate policy adviser, he described the proposals as “an unprecedented opportunity”.

Mr Cook highlighted several challenges in the Borders that have necessitated the drastic proposals, including a reduction in public spending, its sparse and ageing population, persistent social inequalities, the likely impact of Brexit on the region and the devolution of powers from Westminster to Holyrood creating an imbalance with the authority’s English neighbours.  

He further highlighted obesity and child protection issues as problem areas and concluded: “The Scottish Government’s local governance review grants the council and partners an unprecedented opportunity to design a system for engaging with and delivering for the citizens of the Scottish Borders by driving a significant improvement in outcomes through a unified focus on priorities in a single organisation.

“If the council was to neglect to make its arguments for a new way of doing things, then it would be failing in its responsibility to optimise outcomes for the region’s citizens and communities.”

Following Mr Cook’s presentation, council leader Shona Haslam implored her fellow councillors to “start thinking radically” and support the submission to the Scottish Government:

“Our local services are facing challenges which have never before been seen,” she said. “Rising costs and decreasing funding mean we have to think of new ways to protect our public services and make sure they are fit for the future.

“The Borders is facing a particular issue with our ageing population, which is putting a strain on our health and social care services. We need to start thinking radically about how we’re going to meet those challenges.

“This paper asks the Scottish Government if we can take the very first baby steps towards a new solution to the delivery and organisation of our services in the Borders.

“We’re in the enviable position of being co-located with our council and local health board, and this means we can start to think about how we can make the most of that integration that is already happening.

“Traditionally, these types of decisions have been taken in smoke-filled rooms at the end of dark corridors, but what we want to do in this proposals is to get everybody around the table and start thinking radically about how we can move forward together.”

Tweeddale West councillor Heather Anderson, also deputy leader of the opposition, claimed the proposals had not been subject to scrutiny, saying: “The real issue here is that we have opted for one solution to solve every sort of scenario without there being any real discussion or debate within this council.

“Rather than considering or imagining a range of different approaches, the paper comes up with one predetermined solution – a single public authority.

“There is no analysis of any alternative options. We are told that whatever the problem is  – be it obesity, outward migration, low wages or lack of infrastructure – a single public authority will sort it.

“Well, maybe it will, maybe it won’t. I don’t know because we haven’t had the conversation. We may agree with this approach, but right now we haven’t even had a discussion.

“The council have had three to four months to consider a response. Unfortunately, instead of calling us into a briefing to discuss these critically important issues or debating alternative approaches at an executive meeting or even bringing the first draft to the August council meeting, we are now presented with a fait accompli which we have to sign off without debate because we have already missed the deadline for submission.

“This no way to run the proverbial railroad. It is deeply ironic that a paper which is about increasing democracy and accountability has been handled in such an undemocratic and unaccountable way.”

Ms Anderson also put forward a motion, seconded by Mid-Berwickshire councillor Donald Moffat, calling on the council to highlight to the Scottish Government that alternatives would be explored “to enable the robustness of the single public authority option to be fully tested”.

However, that motion was defeated in favour of submitting the original report to the Scottish Government by a vote of 18 to 11.

A second motion, put forward by Kelso councillor Euan Robson, seconded by Tweeddale West’s Kris Chapman, called on the council to reconvene the following morning and redraft the submission to the Scottish Government. That motion was also defeated, by a vote of 18 to 10 with one abstention.

Speaking after the debate, council chief executive Tracey Logan said Borders residents can expect “significant change within two to three years”, adding: “Now we formally submit the proposal to Scottish Government as a response to the local governance consultation.

“We hope this is the very first steps on a journey towards an end which we really don’t know. We’re hoping for closer working and more collaboration between partner agencies towards better outcomes.

“To do that, we need to work with those partner agencies to explore different methods and models of delivery and different governance arrangements.

“Equally essential, if not more so, is the engagement with the communities in the Borders. We have a whole plan to go out and meet with different sectors, different people and different communities to see what they think about merging services.

“Ultimately, we are talking about a long-term proposal. This isn’t something that’s going to be delivered in the next six months or 12 months. I think we could see some significant changes within two to three years, bringing areas of collaboration forward and working together to develop that proposal, but I do think that this is a long-term vision of the future.”

NHS Borders chairman John Raine said: “NHS Borders welcomes the local governance review as an opportunity to engage with partners on how to improve health and social care outcomes for the Borders population.

“There is certainly a big conversation to be had and, subject to discussion with the Scottish Government and the democracy matters team, a starting point for dialogue with staff and local partners on possible options for the delivery of future public services in the Borders.”

Addicts seeking alcohol and drug treatment in the Borders are being seen quickly, new figures have revealed.

Waiting times for treatment have come down over the past year, from just 70% of people being treated within three weeks of referral in September 2017, to 97% in June this year.

Treatments include community based support, residential rehabilitation, prescribed drug treatments such as methadone or motivational interventions.

The latest figures, from the Information Services Division Scotland, show that the Borders is ahead of the national average when it comes to early intervention.

Welcoming the news, Borders Alcohol and Drugs Partnership member, mid Berwickshire councillor John Greenwell said that efforts to bring waiting times down had paid off.

“Evidence shows that early interventions are much more effective in targeting alcohol and drug problems, which is why it is so encouraging to see so many people in the Borders getting the help they need more quickly,” he said.

The national target is for 90% of patients to receive treatment within three weeks of referral.

John Lamont MP said it was good to see public and voluntary bodies in the Borders working so effectively together.

He added: “This significant improvement in waiting times is down to the hard work of NHS Borders, Scottish Borders Council and others involved in the Alcohol and Drug Partnership in the last few months.

“Although we are talking about a relatively low number of individuals, the cost that substance abuse has on our health services, our police and on other public services is significant. Alcohol harm alone is estimated to cost the Borders over £30m each year.”

Officers from Scottish Borders Council’s roads department are due to meet tomorrow, Wednesday, with Galashiels councillor Harry Scott at a “confusing” junction about which he raised concerns.

At the last meeting of Galashiels Community Council, Mr Scott said he agreed with community councillor Tom Ingoldsby about the roundabout at the top of Ladhope Vale and Bridge Place.

At the meeting, Mr Ingoldsby said he had seen an accident take place at the junction on the previous day, adding: “It is a dangerous junction and we need people to be vigilant.”

After the meeting, Mr Scott wrote on his Facebook page: “Last year I raised concerns about the almost invisibility of the road markings surrounding the junction, which were eventually renewed, and I also raised concerns about the inadequacy of the signage.

I myself have witnessed the aftermath of two collisions which occurred there, and I have witnessed several near ‘hits’ or ‘misses’, however you wish to describe them.

“The roundel in the centre of the roundabout is now beginning to fade because of the volume of traffic crossing it.

“I have asked the chief officer for roads at Scottish Borders Council for a further site meeting to discuss how the road markings and signage at this junction might be improved. Hopefully, some resolution might be reached which eliminates or reduces the confusion caused, especially for drivers traveling north in Ladhope Vale towards the traffic lights.”