Villagers dig in over waste store

Waste disposal is becoming a problem in the Borders

Residents of a picturesque Scottish village are urging their local council not to go ahead with a new store for household waste.

People living in Gavinton, Berwickshire, will meet on Monday night to discuss their concerns and decide on a strategy to persuade Scottish Borders Council to drop the plan.

They say the proposed storage depot is not suitable because the local roads will not be able to cope with heavy traffic of up to 40 lorries a week.

Residents agree that the facility is needed, but they believe it must go elsewhere.

The refuse disposal service in the Borders is said to be heading for a crisis with its only landfill site due to close next year.

A search for new grounds has so far proved fruitless and so the council plans to store 12,000 tonnes of rubbish in a shed at Gavinton.

Road safety

From there it will be transferred into skips and taken to the main disposal site at Galashiels.

As well as concerns over the volume of traffic, villagers have questioned how safe pupils walking to the local secondary school will be.

The town, built by a wealthy family for its servants in the 18th century, is considered an idyllic retreat.

Residents are expected to point out that the council previously turned down applications for a grain handling facility on the site, because the road system was not up to standard.

But the cleansing services department denies that the lorries will have to be routed through Gavinton.

Bill Hardie, who chairs the council's protective service committee, said: "I can appreciate the local residents will have concerns. but we have to tackle the problem."