Prior planning approval was granted six months ago by Scottish Borders Council for a deer larder, a storage shed and a welfare and staff base on a failed conifer plantation known as the ‘Christmas Field’, south of Craigmyle Park in Peel.
On Monday, (April 20), members of the council’s Planning & Building Standards Committee narrowly approved a second application from Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) for an access road, yard and 16-acre car park at the rural site with the infrastructure set to serve the three operational buildings.
Objections to the development were received from both Clovenfords and District Community Council and Walkerburn and District Community Council, in addition to several local residents.
They raised concerns over the “industrialisation of rural landscape and inadequate road infrastructure”, while it was also argued that the hub represents a ‘bridgehead’ for a multi-phased industrial development on greenfield site in close proximity to housing.
Objections centred on the application site being too close to residents, the scale of the development and concerns that approval could set a precedent for further expansion.
Opponents stated that the development would be of a scale and appearance that would be out of keeping in the Special Landscape Area.
Members were split over the latest application – four votes for and four against – with the development, approved on the casting vote of the committee chair, Councillor Simon Mountford, who said: “Nobody who lives in the countryside welcomes this kind of development.
“However, to coin a phrase, we are where we are. The building of the three buildings has been given consent and there is already a track running to those three buildings.
“What we are trying to do with the recommendations before us is to mitigate some of downside of the proposed development, by upgrading the access track and providing passing spaces.”
Councillor Sandy Scott, Conservative for Jedburgh and District, who voted in favour of the new application, stated: “I find this a sort of chicken and egg situation.
“Does one put up a building, shed and then put in the roadway to that said building or put the roadway in first to enable the shed buildings to be built?
“I would like to remind everybody that this application seeks consent only for the formation of a road, yard and parking area required to serve them.
“The principle of the erection of the building has already been established.”
Speaking against the development, Councillor Marshall Douglas, SNP for Tweeddale East, said: “This is a very disturbing application in a sense that it is very closely tied to the permitted rights application which has already been accepted, therefore those buildings will be built.
“The application before us enables those buildings, which didn’t go through the general scrutiny of a full planning committee, and is like a Trojan Horse in a sense, giving acceptance to something the community would not have agreed with.”