PLANS for a Flodden memorial garden are being recommended for approval when they go before councillors on Monday, writes Adam Drummond.
However, concerns regarding the lack of detailed designs for various aspects of the garden, including benches and information boards, have resulted in the inclusion of conditions which require these details to be signed off by the council before work starts.
The community council raised concerns about a lack of detail with part of the scheme, but didn’t object to it.
Five conditions have been suggested by planning officers to be implemented along with the approval of the plan.
These include that full details of the seating, interpretation boards, plaques, mosaics and any bins are submitted to and approved in writing by the council before any work starts on the site.
Jake Wheelans, chairman of the Flodden 500 committee, told us on Thursday that he planned to drop off the required details to the council planners by the weekend.
“It is all in hand, and we are looking to get started as soon as possible after we get approval,” he said.
Mr Wheelans added that all the grants were in place, with cash from the Common Good Fund and Landfill Communities Fund contributing towards a significant amount of money raised by the committee themselves towards.
The garden will take up the corner of the Victoria Halls ground closest to the junction of Scotts Place and Chapel Street.
A seating area will be created, with the Flodden 500 insignia in glass mosaic embedded into concrete in the centre of the garden.
A memorial plaque will be erected on the inside of the boundary wall on the corner of the site and five sandstone interpretation panels installed in the central planting area.
Two rowan trees are proposed, as well as three pole cherry trees.
Paving in the garden will include natural red sandstone for the outer path. Basalt coloured cobble-style paving will be used in the central seating area.
Designed by Galashiels-based James Garden Landscaping, the scheme features a large number of native plants, either blue or red in colour.
The official opening scheduled to take place on September 7.