Battle commences over rival Border schemes

FOUR schemes for hotel and leisure complexes on the rural eastern Scottish border, including a grandiose 600-acre proposal, are the subject of keen competition.

The fate of the schemes, all for sites near the A1 at Lamberton, could be decided at a planning meeting of Borders Regional Council in a fortnight. Only one is likely to succeed.

The schemes are part of a plan by the council to market the border as a tourist attraction.

Euroscope Developments proposes an 18-hole golf course, a four-star 100-bedroom hotel, and an exhibition and conference centre, all on a 600-acre site. It would include a permanent exhibition on technology.

The scheme straddles the border, and so comes under scrutiny from Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council as well as the Scottish council.

Meanwhile, Cruden Property Developments is bullish that its more modest proposal will be preferred. Its scheme, which would also straddle the border, is for a hotel about half the size. It includes 50 bedrooms, a restaurant, information and interpretation facilities, craft shops and roadside facilities.

If the scheme is approved, the company will look for a partner in the hotel industry. Nigel Cooper of property consultancy Erdman Lewis, which is marketing the scheme, said building could be finished within two years.

He said the Euroscope scheme was "too ambitious" for the rural location, and that he was confident the Cruden scheme, located on the west side of the A1, would be approved.

A third scheme, from Nife Properties, is proposed on both sides of the road. It is also for a 50-bedroom hotel, a restaurant, craft shops, museum, tourist centre and petrol station. A spokesman for the scheme said it could be built within a year.

A fourth scheme is being proposed in the grounds of Ayton Castle, five miles to the north of the border.