A KELSO OCTOGENARIAN is urging the council to clear the “mess” they left in a local beauty spot, writes Sally Gillespie.
Roxburgh Street resident Rena Wark saw Scottish Borders Council staff rake up rubbish left by the flooded River Tweed at the riverside area known as the Cobby in Kelso.
Usually they return to remove the debris but this year piles of vegetation have remained for more than two weeks.
Mrs Wark said: “There’s a huge pile of rubbish from the last flood and people are bringing all their garden stuff and adding it on to it; it’s making it bigger. People are pulling sticks out to throw for their dogs and not putting them back so it’s getting scattered. We thought the council were going to take it away but they never did, they raked it up and left it. It’s the worst I have seen the Cobby look.
“They could have just set fire to it but they’ve left it and people are just dumping trees and everything onto it. There was a big skip added onto it but it washed away with the rise of water we had the other day.”
The former B and B owner said visitors often walked down to the Cobby to take photographs of Floors Castle and a local church.
“This is a really lovely spot but it’s horrible looking at that,” said the 84-year-old. “What used to be a lovely view is turning into a shambles.”
Another of the heaps includes mulched laurels by cut by council staff. She said: “The kids are coming along and kicking it – it’s a mess.” An SBC spokesman said: “The flood debris has been tidied up as per other occasions and will hopefully be removed from site in the next two weeks.”