COMMUNITY council members in Galashiels have hit out at Scottish Borders Council after this month’s community council meeting was abandoned in farcical circumstances.

It is the third time this year that community councillors and members of the public have been locked out of the town’s Burgh Chambers - although previous meetings were able to go ahead once SBC councillors arrived.

The Chamber itself can only be accessed using a security swipe card which are held by one of the four Galashiels & District Councillors.

On this occasion, no SBC representatives turned up for the regular monthly meeting, and - after a half hour wait - chairman Ian Purvis had little choice but to call a halt to proceedings.

Speaking to the Border Telegraph, he said: “With the transport interchange now open, and the railway due to open next month, this was an important meeting for us.

“There were members of the public there who hadn’t been to a community council meeting before. It looks really bad on us because we couldn’t give them a meeting to come to.

“It discourages other members of the public from getting involved in their community council. Something needs to be done to prevent this happening again. We had given SBC the dates and times well in advance, so I am not sure what more we could do.” The community council has previously complained about being given the cold shoulder treatment by the local authority and members have been forced to sit through meetings in winter woolies after the heating was switched off ahead of their arrival.

Vice-chairman Rick Kenney said: “After we were locked out in April, I contacted SBC and sent them all the dates and times for the community council meetings until the end of the year. “I did say that all the meetings would start at seven o’clock, except the AGM in June, which starts at 6.30pm. I was told there would be no problem with this, so it is very disappointing to be locked out again.” When contacted about the matter, a spokesperson for Scottish Borders Council said: “The main entrance was open which allowed all community council members access to the building. However, the Chamber itself can only be accessed using a security swipe card which are held by all four Galashiels & District Councillors.

“On this occasion, the Councillor due to attend was late as he had been attending another meeting which ran over. The Community Council had left by the time he arrived.

“We have not been advised of regular problems with access to the Council Chamber.

“For security purposes, swipe cards are normally only issued to SBC employees and elected members but if there are ongoing issues with access, we would look to see what solutions could be possible.”