INTRODUCTION

This chapter examines the role of the Planning and Development Department leading up to the reorganisation of local government in 1996, when the BRC and its four constituent district councils were replaced by the Scottish Borders Council (SBC). During the early 1990s, four district-wide local plans were produced to replace the twelve local plans adopted in the 1980s. They were prepared in tandem with the new structure plan, The Scottish Borders 2001: The Way Forward, approved in November 1993. The replacement local plans applied in detail the policies and proposals incorporated in the approved structure plan, in order to provide a basis for co-ordinating public and private investment and for the control of development up to 2001. The procedure for the preparation of the replacement local plans followed a similar path to that adopted for the first local plans. The Berwickshire Local Plan was adopted, subject to several modifications, in March 1995. The Roxburgh Local Plan was adopted, subject to several modifications, in May 1995. The Ettrick and Lauderdale Local Plan was adopted, subject to several modifications, in July 1995. The Tweeddale Local Plan was adopted, subject to several modifications, in June 1996. A substantial number of policies in the replacement local plans were unchanged from the previous local plans but new policies reflected the economic, social and environmental changes outlined in the approved structure plan. Many of the proposals in the previous local plans had been implemented and new allocations for housing and industry were required to reflect the strategic proposals in the approved structure plan (Figure 9.1).

The BRC was one of the leading local authorities in Scotland campaigning for a stronger voice for rural communities. For more than two decades, perceived to be at a considerable disadvantage compared with the Highlands and Islands, the regional council, strongly supported by its Members of Parliament, particularly Sir David Steel, had sought more recognition by government of the problems of rural areas like the Borders Region. Under the umbrella of COSLA, the regional council brought the problems of rural areas to the attention of government through the gathering of evidence on the extent of rural disadvantage in Scotland. The regional council and other rural local authorities argued that more coherent and integrated policy making was required at government level.