A NEW three-bedroom home on land in Kelso with links to Sir Walter Scott has received the green light.

Planning officers with Scottish Borders Council (SBC) had refused the application to demolish a shed and to build a house on land north west of Rosebank Cemetery Lodge in Dryinghouse Lane.

Officers deemed that the proposed house was “out of keeping with the character of the existing development pattern and would represent over-development and town cramming to the detriment of the amenity and character of the surrounding area”.

It is thought that the site formed part of the former Rosebank estate with links to Sir Walter Scott who owned it briefly in 1804 after inheriting the estate upon the death of his uncle, Captain Robert Scott.

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The refusal was recently appealed to SBC’s Local Review Body, members of which agreed to overturn refusal.

Jedburgh councillor Sandy Scott said: “I don’t have any problems with this application. We’re swapping a house here from a shed and I don’t see any objections to this.”

Mid Berwickshire councillor Donald Moffat agreed, saying: “I think the shed that is there at the moment is past its sell-by date an I think what is being proposed will be an improvement on the site and I think it has been designed to fit the site, so I don’t have any problem with it.”

“It’s an improvement big-time on a shed,” added Hawick & Denholm councillor Neil Richards.