BARKING dogs, loud televisions and arguing neighbours are among the most common reasons for complaints about noise in the Borders.

And there have also been four complaints regarding the noise of trains from the new Borders Railway.

Figures just released show that the local authority was called on 298 occasions over the past three years by fed up neighbours.

Galashiels heads the table for complaints with 59, just one ahead of Hawick, and Peebles was third in the loud league table with 31 reported instances of noise pollution.

Despite the number of complaints, Scottish Borders Council has not fined any noisy neighbours or forwarded details for prosecutions during the past three years.

A spokesperson said: "We have not had any imposed fines or prosecutions for the noise complaints - they are addressed through a series of early warnings and partnership working with landlords.

"In the very few cases that progress to court for a civil ASBO, the ASBO application would be for several behaviours and not just noise."

In Galashiels there were 19 separate complaints regarding barking dogs, 16 call outs about noisy neighbours and six over both commercial construction and commercial operations.

Amongst the complaints in Galashiels were two over the noise of the trains on the Borders Railway.

There was a further rail complaint from Stow as well as one from Tweedbank.

Of the 25 complaints from Selkirk only three concerned neighbours playing music too loudly. A total of 12 reports were over barking dogs with others regarding commercial building and operation.

Of the 11 complaints from Melrose, three were for barking dogs and two were for early-morning deliveries.

A further two complaints from Melrose were regarding music from commercial premises, as well as two over commercial construction.

Two of the 17 complaints made in St Boswells were about noisy farm vehicles - there were also six reports of barking dogs, as well as two noisy neighbours and four complaints over commercial entertainment being too loud.

In Clovenfords there was a complaint over bird noise as well as three for barking dogs and one for a noisy television.

Of the ten complaints received from Lauder, three were for noisy neighbours, four for barking dogs with the others for street noise, early morning deliveries and commercial entertainment.

In Earlston there was one complaint about traffic noise with one over noise from a commercial premises and one over a barking dog.

The single call out to Heriot was for noisy farm vehicles, and all of the call outs to Newtown (two), Bowden (one), Ettrickbridge (one), Gattonside (two), and Oxton (one) were for barking dogs.