THE by-election to find a successor to Borders Party leader Nicholas Watson as a councillor for the Leaderdale and Melrose ward will be held on May 2.
Mr Watson, who led the Save Scott’s Countryside campaign and lives at Faldonside between Selkirk and Melrose, has tendered his resignation to Scottish Borders Council and is moving with his family to Cumbria to start a business.
An elected member since May 2007, Mr Watson intends resuming his profession of clock-making and to start sheep farming.
The date for the resultant by-election, which will cost £30,000, was set at the local authority’s meeting yesterday.