Hawick & Hermitage councillor Ron Smith met earlier this week with representatives of the Parks and SB Local staffs to work out a Management Plan for the Millers’ Knowes parkland. The hilltop attraction has suffered in recent years from financial cuts and environmental constraints which have seen paths become impassable in wetter conditions and gorse bushes leaving wide areas off-limits. The BMX track, the result of much work by enthusiasts and their parents and once well patronised, has also come to be overgrown by broom plants.

Ron has asked council staff to develop a programme for cutting back the overgrowth and reopening paths. In addition the proposals would see some paths resurfaced with environmentally friendly materials, more litter bins provided, and picnic tables placed at a range of suitable spots. It’s also hoped to extend the steps which already lead part of the way uphill from the Weensland Road gate.

No consideration was given to more formal facilities as the Millers’ Knowes is a natural parkland and it would be inappropriate to introduce artificial features, although the way would still be open for cycling enthusiasts to come forward with a plan for rejuvenating the former BMX track in some form in the future.

The central areas would remain as open grassland, while around the outskirts there would be linked paths for dog walkers and for those seeking exercise.

Ron did however sound a note of warning that users should accept some personal responsibility for keeping the parkland attractive. He stated: ‘ Youths were clearly camping on the hill one Friday evening recently and, while no one would argue with that, the remains of two tents, food containers and broken glass bottles ruined the football field area until council workmen cleared the debris on the Monday’. He went on: ‘Litter can be a major problem, especially when young drivers leave the evidence of their fast-food and their drinks where their cars have been parked on the crest of the hill’.

SB Local staff later took advice from the Council’s Wildlife Officer who advised that extensive cutting of the gorse on the hillside should wait until the end of the breeding season in August. Management of the overgrown pathways can be done now however if completed carefully and with no disturbance of nests.

Recently, the ongoing problem has been wheeliebins! Not much can go wrong there you would think? However I’ve received comments recently from residents about problems with the wheeliebins.

These are being left out on the street all week round and so the pavement is congested, making it difficult for passers by, prams, etc., and just adding to an unattractive approach to the entries of tenements in particular.

In addition, difficulties are being noticed by the refuse collectors in that bags of all sorts are being mixed up in these bins, making it hard for them to identify what is to be cleared on the appropriate collection day.

Normal household waste in much of Hawick is collected on Tuesdays. The clear recycling bags for cans and plastic bottles etc., and the lilac bags for paper and cardboard are collected on Thursdays. Lilac bags, just for example, won’t ever be collected on Tuesdays! However if left out early they’ll be at risk of blowing about, or of being torn open.

It would be helpful if neighbours would only put out a bin or bags the night before they’re due to be collected, at the earliest. (It’s also a help if the bags are left separately – not within wheeliebins). If bins are then taken in again to the back court afterwards, the whole place will look better.

Unless this is tackled, the situation is going to become even more complicated from 31^st March when the garden refuse collections start again for the year!

I hope you will consider how you can help. I’ve delivered a letter seeking co-operation around one of the streets in the town and it’ll be interesting to see if anything changes! We’re all looking forward to seeing the town, and the street, look better as spring and summer arrive.

Scottish Borders Council recently agreed to establish a Flood Advisory Group, consisting of one member of the Council’s Administration from each of the five Area Committees, plus one SNP member who might be able to provide liaison with the Scottish Government. The five Councillors are Gavin Logan (Tweeddale), Vicky Davidson (Eildon), Len Wyse (Cheviot), Jim Fullarton (Berwickshire), and Ron Smith (Teviot & Liddesdale). The SNP representative is Kenneth Gunn, also from the Eildon Area Committee. Jim Fullarton as Executive member for Technical Services will chair the group. This group gives an opportunity for putting the case for rapid and effective action to safeguard Hawick. There has been major change in the approach to flood protection since the Council’s Flood Prevention report came out in September 2007, with much more willingness now to consider smaller schemes which can be progressed more quickly. Work will continue in preparing a case for one or two of the earlier and more expensive projects, but these are more likely to lie then on the table pending a signal from Holyrood that policies have again changed and funds might be made available for them. The F.A.G. meantime will balance cash and the prioritisation of the smaller local schemes so that residents will be able to see progress in their own areas much earlier.

[The Group has now met once and indications are that this new approach will indeed benefit Hawick and Newcastleton earlier.]

Since the elections in May 2007, Ron has been much involved in a series of issues affecting the community at Craik and in the upper Borthwick valley. In the last few years, residents have faced the development of a large log cabin development at Craik, a planning application for a wind-farm at Langhope Rig between Blawearie and Ashkirk (which would have meant the use of the road from Martin’s Bridge to Alemoor by construction traffic), the shared headship of Roberton and Drumlanrig Primary Schools, a national pilot scheme to investigate sustainable flood prevention in the area between Eilrig and Craik, and continuing problems related to timber transport.

It has become very clear that some of these issues would have been negotiated more smoothly with better communication between the community and the Council in the early stages. Ron has set out to try to improve these links. Rebuilding trust will take a long time, but he has already promoted greater transparency and more frequent discussions.

He, with fellow Hawick & Hermitage councillor George Turnbull, sits on the Timber Transport Group, and he has also been building relationships with Tweed Forum and with SBC’s Technical Services officers who are involved with the flood prevention pilot.

This pilot has been the focus of much discontent. The original terms of reference were not clear to the community and so there has been ongoing suspicion. The aim is to investigate whether measures might be taken on the low-lying haughland which would slow down floodwater and so help protect communities downstream. This is an issue where very little scientific evidence, and few case studies, at present exist. Examples of measures include the reinstatement of old meanders across the haughland, planting of willow and similar species along the bankings on the edge of the floodplain, planting willows across the haughland etc.. The impact of such measures on the Borthwick’s flow will be assessed on a very local scale, trying to isolate the effect of each one as much as is possible.

Local residents have long held worries re the connection between clear felling of timber and flooding, but very recently assurances have been given that the effect of the former is very small. While clear felling such as currently taking place at Laird’s Hill near Howpasley looks massive, its impact is greatest in the headwater streams in that immediate area – with only a 5-15% increase in flow in the higher order river, i.e. in the Borthwick itself – as Laird’s Hill is only a small part of the whole Borthwick Water basin.

Following an enquiry from a local resident in the Weensland area, I approached Scottish Borders Council’s Environmental Services department and Viridor, the contractors who provide and empty the bottle banks. They agreed that it would be possible to set up a bottle bank site within the Weensland Mill area – perhaps to the right of the roadway as you go down into the site, or perhaps further in to the site.

I distributed a note around the homes and businesses nearest to this location to give the opportunity for your comments to be taken on board before any bottle bank is set up. Do let me know if you have any strong feelings on this matter. You can phone (and possibly leave a message for me) on 378623, or e-mail me at rsmith@scotborders.gov.uk

The reason for having a bottle bank in the area at all is that some people who do not have a car want to be able to recycle their glass. Perhaps they therefore have to carry bottles and jars long distances, perhaps they take them on the bus when they go to the supermarkets, or perhaps they just feel there is no alternative but to put them in the normal rubbish collection. I personally don’t want older people carrying glass for any distance as it can be heavy but also could harm them in any fall.

The possible problems associated with a bottle bank are noise, broken glass and parking difficulties. There might be concern over whether there will be the sound of breaking glass, especially later at night. The sites suggested above have few, if any, houses close by. There might be worries about whether there will be broken glass close to the bins. I am conscious that there is a play park in the area. Parking would certainly be possible beside several possible sites.

I started by saying I had received an enquiry from a local resident in the Weensland area regarding this. That enquiry coincided with similar ones within the West End, which is also part of my council ward. There Viridor assessed several possible sites, but so far none has been found to be acceptable, often because their vehicle could not safely access them in the narrower streets of the West End.

Considering acceptable flood prevention

Scottish Borders Council published its Flood Prevention Report in September 2007 but the details contained in it failed to satisfy residents of Hawick or Newcastleton or any of their six local councillors. The focus seemed to be on high walls along the whole length of the rivers in the two settlements, aimed at countering the height of flood expected only every 200 years. For comparison, the flood of October 2005 was reckoned to be a 1 in 33 year occurrence. There has to be a balance found between providing satisfactory protection and avoiding a ‘Berlin Wall’ scenario in the centre of towns. Newcastleton has a very specific problem in that water draining off the hills to the west of the village fills pipes which cannot then empty into the river, instead backing up and flooding streets. A wall would therefore only contain this floodwater within the village.

Ron and other councillors have therefore been working away behind the scenes to persuade council officials of the need to amend the masterplan.

Within Hawick there is a need to reduce height of the walls to cope acceptably with a 1 in 100 year flood occurrence. This might still mean barriers one metre high. However this should be accompanied by smaller scale measures within the course of the river, removing gravel, islands and the remnants of caulds, while also providing higher level relief channels which could help speed floodwater downstream. In Newcastleton a two pronged approach is favoured, with floodwater being retained in ponds within the hillier area to the west and being slowly released into a drain to take floodwater to a point south of the village, while a low embankment along Liddel Street could also be accompanied by gravel clearance in the riverbed.