 The council has hit back at claims housing is being held up |
Scottish Borders Council has hit back at claims it is dragging its heels on housing developments to make the reopened Waverley line viable. It had been claimed they would fall more than 1,700 houses short of their building target for 2011.
The authority says that the figures the allegations are based on are "out of date" and "flawed".
It added that it has appointed extra staff and published a local plan to help streamline planning procedure.
The authority came under fire from SNP MSP Christine Grahame who said figures from Homes for Scotland sounded alarms about housing development along the line.
"Once again we have evidence that SBC are falling down on the job," she said.
"They were warned by industry specialists that they would need to lift their game if they hoped to meet the projected build in time for completion of the railway," she added.
SBC council leader David Parker said the reliability of the evidence had already been questioned by the Waverley committee.
"The evidence from Homes for Scotland related to house completions in just part of the area covered by the Waverley Business Case," he said.
"It took inadequate account of sites emerging through the new local plan and took inadequate account of windfall house completions which alone are currently running at approximately 100 per annum."
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