Councillors agree sites for hundreds of new Scottish Borders homes

New guidance which has identified sites for more than 800 additional houses in the Borders has been given the green light by councillors.Scottish Borders Council’s Local Development Plan for housing was adopted more than a year ago with details of sites identified for housing developments.But the Scottish Government flagged up a need for many more homes to be built in order to address a housing shortfall.The initial figure of 916 identified by Holyrood was gradually reduced to 811 due to current live applications being included.Following a lengthy consultation exercise a full list of the accepted – and rejected – sites went in front of Scottish Borders Council last week.The full list of sites included in the Finalised Supplementary Guidance on Housing list are…Land North of High Street, Ayton (six units)Hillview North (Phase 1), Coldstream (100 units)Reston Long Term 2, Reston (38 units)Lintburn Street, Galashiels (eight units)Rose Court, Galashiels (12 units)Former Castle Warehouse Site, Galashiels (30 units)Leishman Place, Hawick (five units)Henderson Road, Hawick (six units)Fairhurst Drive Factory, Hawick (10 units)Tweed Court, Kelso (15 units)Nethershot (Phase 2), Kelso (100 units)Former High School Site, Kelso (50 units)The Orchard, Newstead (six units)Angles Field, Selkirk (30 units)Heather Mill, Selkirk (75 units)Lowood, Tweedbank (300 units)Caerlee Mill, Innerleithen (35 units)Rosetta Road Mixed Use, Peebles (30 units)March Street Mill, Peebles (70 units).A site at Newstead was removed from the list and both Philiphaugh Mill and Philiphaugh Farm in Selkirk were also taken off the proposed sites.Attempts by developers to include Venlaw Hill in Peebles, land next to Whitehaugh in Peebles, a vast site at Whitehill near Newtown St Boswells and additional land at Robinsland at West Linton were also unsuccessful.