COUNCIL leader David Parker has welcomed a decision to allocate over £140,000 for a flood study around Earlston.

The village has been a regular casualty of flooding over the past decade from the Turfford Burn.

And despite remedial work along the banks, several properties and roads in the east end of the village continue to be at risk.

At last week's Executive meeting members approved a £141,000 flood study into the area which will commence shortly.

Councillor Parker told us: "I am delighted that members have agreed to the first phase of the flood study for Earlston.

"The work will take 18 months to complete and involve significant consultation with SEPA, other stakeholders and the community.

"Hopefully, at the end of the work a detailed flood defence scheme for Earlston can be put in place.

"Although Earlston has not suffered flooding on the scale of Selkirk and Hawick there are difficulties in Earlston which limit development and cause home owners problems, particularly in the east end."

Over the next 18 months, the study will look at whether a full scale flood protection scheme is viable and what options there are to reduce flooding in the Earlston area.

The study will specifically look at the Turfford Burn as it flows through the entire length of Earlston.

It will also consider the Leader Water upstream of Earlston and look at two smaller burns at the east end of Earlston which have caused flooding as recently as December 2015.

The findings of the Earlston study will be reported in 2018 and at that stage more detailed work on the flood defence options for Earlston will be carefully considered.