Galashiels News

Foster pay hike, but jobs will go

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 18:05:08 +0000

scottish Borders Council will shed a further 42 full-time posts in the forthcoming financial year as it works to balance its books while maintaining essential services.

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Squeeze warning as Calvert bows out

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 18:04:15 +0000

FOR the ninth and final time on Tuesday, Councillor Neil Calvert presented details of a budget which his ruling administration will push through at Newtown next Thursday.

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How SBC?s budget will hit

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 18:03:31 +0000

Scottish Borders Council’s departments, what they do and how the 2012/13 budget will affect them. Figures do not include more than £2million of efficiency savings approved in November

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Welcome for £10m affordable housing boost

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 18:02:53 +0000

NO sooner had Councillor Neil Calvert, in his valedictory assessment of Scottish Borders Council’s budget for 2012/13, bemoaned the lack of new affordable housing in the region, than spirits were raised by an announcement of major investment in the sector from the Scottish Government.

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Social work bosses to review case of carer whose mileage rate was slashed

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 17:24:57 +0000

A COUNCILLOR has intervened in the case of a Borders dad who claims he has been forced into debt because the petrol allowance he receives for conveying his disabled son to a special school in Dundee has been slashed, writes Andrew Keddie.

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Budget cuts set for mounted unit is sad day for Borders

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 17:22:41 +0000

THE decision to axe Lothian & Borders Police’s mounted section after more than 130 years, has cast doubts over whether officers on horseback will ever be seen again at local events in this region, such as the common ridings.

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Bleak picture as councillors condemn courts proposal

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 17:14:42 +0000

VICTIMS, witnesses, police officers, and solicitors all having to travel for miles, as well as accused persons being dumped out on the street on bail, far from home and left to find their own way back to the Borders – that will be the reality for Borderers using the justice system if the Scottish Courts Service eventually opts to close sheriff courts in the region, according to councillors at last week’s full session of Scottish Borders Council.

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Work to start on Peebles cycle path

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 13:16:42 +0000

WORK is expected to start on a cycle path linking Peebles, Cardrona and Innerleithen this summer, it has been confirmed.

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Wheelie good bike idea

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 12:32:52 +0000

THE takeover of a floundering mountain biking project in the Innerleithen area by a group of local residents has been hailed as a fantastic example of what can be done by members of the public.

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Daffodil Walk sets new challenge

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 10:32:25 +0000

EIGHTEEN years after the daffodil bulbs were first planted on a strip of land opposite the Borders General Hospital to create the Field of Hope for Marie Curie Cancer Care (MCCC), the charity has decided to bring a new dimension to its ever popular annual Daffodil Walk for 2012.

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Monument part missing

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 09:14:21 +0000

A SECTION of flag pole from Hawick’s historic 1514 monument remains missing – despite a man being charged with vandalism.

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Gunn cites incest fears in call for banns to be posted in local towns

Sun, 5 Feb 2012 18:10:40 +0000

A RITUAL handed down since the Dark Ages that has protected local communities from inadvertently committing incest, was how the public displaying of marriage banns in the Borders was decribed at last week’s full monthly meeting of the local authority.

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