PLANS are being hatched to tidy up an unsightly entrance to Selkirk.

Angry residents are demanding the once welcoming slopes of the Toll banking are returned to their former glory.

And councillors have responded by drafting in experts to come up with a solution.

Selkirkshire councillor Vicky Davidson said: "We have asked our estates officers to see if there is something that can be done to make it look a lot better."

The Toll banking was once the traditional viewpoint for thousands of Souters at the annual Common Riding celebrations.

And the grassy slopes and daffodil planting was a welcome sight for visitors arriving from the north.

Purchased for the town by the Colonial Society in 1929, for a sum of £50, and given to the town's Common Good for the people of Selkirk to enjoy.

For around six decades Souters in their thousands flocked to the banking every June to watch the Common Riding mounted cavalcade return 'Safe In'.

Due to health and safety concerns the banking was closed off to spectators in the 1990s.

And a £10,000 shrub planting scheme was undertaken in 2002.

But the unkempt bushes and black weed protection surfaces have been a blot on the landscape for over a decade.

In a recent online question-and-answer session with local councillors the Toll was described as a 'disgrace'.

Councillor Davidson added: "The planting was expensive but it hasn't worked.

"We can surely do something much better."