After more than five years lying empty, the historic ‘Veitch’s corner’ site in Peebles will be brought back to life by a new business.
On Monday, an application for a change of use to allow estate agents Remax to move in was unanimously approved by the council’s planning committee.
However, any alterations to the listed building or shop frontage will still need to go through the planning process.
Tweeddale councillors Nathaniel Buckingham and Stuart Bell both spoke in support of the application.
Mr Bell told TheSouthern: “In recommending approval, the officers balanced the advantages of maintaining the vibrancy and vitality of the High Street against the disadvantage that the application is for a professional business and not a retail enterprise.
“I have argued for a while that it is more important for our town centre to be core activity areas where people meet to do things, rather than just prime retail areas where people only shop.
“The classification of the Peebles High Street as ‘prime retail’ is a disadvantage if it results in empty shops when other classes of business want to locate there.”
Mr Bell added that he was hopeful that the maintenance of the iconic property would be secured with occupancy of the site.
A condition of approval was imposed allowing only an estate agency on the ground floor. Any future non-retail use will require another change of use application.