SIR, I am writing a belated letter in reply to your article on the change of boundary of land previously in St Boswells boundary, now unilateraly allocated to Newtown control by Scottish Borders Council without any consultation with St Boswells Community Council or the population of the village.

I personally object to this on the grounds that this propsal was originally raised some years ago when I served on the Community Council, we objected to this proposal and it was shelved. It now appears to have been rushed through when only one councillor was present to represent St Boswells, which resulted in him being overruled.

Among the reasons I think this decision should be overturned are, firstly, the proposed number of new housing cannot be adequately supported by Environmental Services, in particular sewage.

Secondly, there has been no consultation with local GPs about medical services to support 800 new homes. Currently the surgery only has two consulting rooms and one local GP estimates a need for five consulting rooms to cope with the extra demands. In addition there many be a need to employ more doctors in the practice.

Thirdly, there appears to have been no consultation as to whether the school can cope with extra children. These and many other queries need to be addressed.

I would ask local residents who object to this plan to contact Scottish Borders Council leader David Parker and see if he will answer these questions about why the change of boundary lines was pushed through without consultation, is this legal?

I am etc.

Martina Murray Springfield Terrace