A CIVIL engineer is calling for the informal public consultation on the new Galashiels Academy to be extended.

The deadline to submit feedback on options for the new £55 million community campus is Monday (April 26).

But Save Scott Park campaigner Stuart Gordon, who lives in the town, says people should be given more time to take part after Scottish Borders Council added in extra video content "at the eleventh hour".

In a letter to this newspaper, Dr Gordon wrote: "As the Galashiels campus consultation end date approaches it is still clear that the same misleading language is being used, as follows: 'The consultation site includes details of the five possible options to replace Galashiels Academy, including our preferred option to build a 1,000+ pupil school built largely within the existing school boundary and a portion of the town’s Scott Park'.

"This wording gives completely the wrong impression of what is being proposed. This says that the new 1,000+ pupil school will be built largely within the existing school boundary and a portion of the park, when clearly, the new school and the other structural elements of community facilities will be built almost entirely within Scott Park.

"Despite the fact that we have been shown five options we have also been told that only the council’s preferred option 3 is viable.

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"So, we have a consultation with one viable option. I have submitted a workable/viable alternative option 1 that will place the building on the existing pitches but it has not been given any proper attention by SBC.

"Now at the eleventh hour, the council has added in a fly-through video which shows the full adverse impact of the new proposed building on the park.

"Most people will probably have visited the consultation site already, and only now are they being presented with the sort of information that they will need to visualise the impact.

"In my view, the consultation must be extended to allow this to be properly viewed and understood by the people of Galashiels and to allow people to further comment on this significant last minute addition to the material.

"It must be extended to allow all other options to be properly developed and for alternative options to be included."

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Last Friday (April 16), the council revealed it has added extra video content to the site, including an "animated flyover to demonstrate how the proposed new campus building would be incorporated into the existing Galashiels Academy space".

Carol Hamilton, the council's executive member for children and young people said: "It’s not too late to have your say on the various proposals for Galashiels Community Campus. The feedback we receive during this part of the process is vitally important in helping shape the final plans for the campus.

"Extra content is being put up on the consultation website to help further demonstrate the council’s vision for the Campus and provide some added context around some of the major decisions that are being considered in this phase of the project.

"The new campus will be designed with everyone in mind and we’re extremely keen to get the views from people across all parts of the community before the deadline."

The informal consultation can be accessed HERE.