A SELKIRK embankment once used as a general public viewing point for the town’s Common Riding will not be returning to its former use any time soon, a committee has decided.

Shawburn Toll Embankment was deemed unsafe prior to the 1998 Common Riding due to the poor state of the timber terracing along the steep angle of the slope and the lack of suitable barriers.

Its use as a viewing point was discontinued and the embankment was planted with evergreen shrubs.

Pre-COVID in 2019 a consultation exercise was carried out with the Selkirk public to establish if there was an interest in reinstating it.

As a result 93.6 per cent of the 250 responders sought improvements to the embankment, with 55.6 per cent calling for the embankment to be returned to a Common Riding viewing point and 12 per cent asking for the ground and shrubbery to be tidied up.

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A response to the consultation was put on the back-burner as a result of the pandemic but was on the agenda again on Wednesday (August 31) when members of Selkirk Common Good Sub-Committee met via video-link.

Norrie Curtis, Scottish Borders Council’s estate strategy manager, said: “We had lockdown and meetings weren’t held for six months so it kind of got lost and has been put back on the agenda for this meeting.”

Committee chair and Selkirkshire councillor Caroline Cochrane said: “I think it is an important thing for the town. However, I do understand there are other priorities that need to be looked at.

“It tends to come up every year in June when the Common Riding is on and maybe if we do a tidy up on it for June next year and see what response we get on the back of a tidy-up, just to see if there is a community enthusiasm to do something a bit more, because we have our work cut out with other projects.”

Members agreed to that approach.