COUNCILLORS are set to rubber-stamp proposals which will see more than 800 new houses built in the Borders in the coming years.

And it will include around 300 new homes being built on land at Lowood near Tweedbank.

Scottish Borders Council's Local Development Plan for housing was adopted more than a year ago.

But the Scottish Government flagged up a need for many more homes to be built in order to address a housing shortfall.

An initial figure of 916 has gradually been reduced to 811 in the proceeding months due to current live applications.

Following a lengthy consultation exercise a full list of the accepted sites will go in front of Scottish Borders Council tomorrow Thursday).

As well as 300 houses for Lowood, the former Heather Mills site in Selkirk is included for 75 houses, the Angles Field next to Bannerfield is listed for 30 houses, and 100 houses are proposed for land at Nethershot in Kelso.

The former Kelso High School site is included with an indicative figure of 50 properties, and the former Castle Warehouse site in Galashiels is listed for 30 houses.

It is proposed that the central Borders will cater for a total of 647 new houses on the Finalised Supplementary Guidance on Housing list.

The Northern Borders has only three sites included - 70 houses for the March Street Mills site and 30 properties for Rosetta Road, both in Peebles.

It is also proposed that Caelree Mills in Innerleithen will cater for 35 new houses.

Lead planning officer Charles Johnston stated: "In terms of the location of site options to meet the required 811 units, the Reporters did not state where these units should be located within the Scottish Borders.

"It was therefore considered that taking into account matters such as housing land take-up, development interest and population projections the split should roughly be within the identified Local Development Plan Housing Market Areas as follows - Central 60 per cent, Berwickshire 20 per cent and Northern 20 per cent."

A controversial site at Newstead was removed from the list and both Philiphaugh Mill and Philiphaugh Farm in Selkirk were also taken off the proposed sites.

Attempts by developers to include Venlaw Hill in Peebles, Whitehaugh in Peebles, Whitehill near Newtown St Boswells and Robinsland at West Linton were unsuccessful.

The sites to be included on the Finalised Supplementary Guidance on Housing list are...

Land North of High Street, Ayton (6 units) Hillview North 1 (Phase 1), Coldstream (100 units).

Reston Long Term 2, Reston (38 units) Lintburn Street, Galashiels (8 units) Rose Court, Galashiels (12 units) Former Castle Warehouse Site, Galashiels (30 units) Leishman Place, Hawick (5 units) Henderson Road, Hawick (6 units) Factory – Fairhurst Drive, Hawick (10 units) Tweed Court, Kelso (15 units) Nethershot (Phase 2), Kelso (100 units) Former High School Site, Kelso (50 units) The Orchard, Newstead (6 units) Angles Field, Selkirk (30 units) Heather Mill, Selkirk (75 units) Lowood, Tweedbank (300 units) Caerlee Mill, Innerleithen (35 units) Rosetta Road Mixed Use, Peebles (30 units) March Street Mill, Peebles (70 units)