THE councillor leading a campaign against a concrete batching plant being installed in Earlston said he was "very disappointed" that representatives of the firm that will lease the equipment did not attend a crunch meeting yesterday.
Councillor John Paton-Day (Leaderdale and Melrose) is a founder member of the Earlston Against Concrete campaign, which was formed after Rodger (Builders) was given planning consent for the development at its Station Road yard last month.
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n invitation was extended by campaigners to Bardon Concrete at its Lanarkshire base to attend a special meeting, organised by the community council, in the former police station yesterday morning.
"We had set up the meeting to express the views of the community to Bardon, which will lease the batching plant from Rodger's, and to ask if rumours circulating in the village that they may withdraw their interest were correct," explained Mr Paton-Day.
"But when we arrived, community council chairman Harry Commings revealed Bardon would not be coming because of a 'prior engagement'," he added.
Last week, TheSouthern sought clarification from Bardon of its intentions, but no response was forthcoming.
And Charles Rodger, director of Rodger (Builders) Ltd, was not available for comment at the time of going to press.
Mr Paton-Day said he was grateful that two representatives of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) did attend the meeting and explain that only when the plant was up and running would they be in a position to monitor dust and any adverse impact on the nearest water course, Trufford Burn.
As reported recently, Mr Rodger has written to Scottish Borders Council claiming that conditions attached to the consent, including off site road improvements, were excessive. He claimed the conditions put the batching plant and, indeed, his company's continued presence in the village in doubt.
A spokesman for SBC's planning department said these concerns were being investigated by council roads officials, but he insisted the conditions were explicit in the planning consent.
Meanwhile, Mr Paton-Day said a Facebook site entitled Earlston Against Concrete had attracted 215 supporters: three times the number who objected to the planning application.
"We are hearing from people as far afield as Melrose, St Boswells and Tweedbank whose children go to school in Earlston," he told TheSouthern.
"Like us, they believe the centre of a village is no place for such a facility and represents an unacceptable health risk to the community."
Mr Paton-Day also claimed the batching plant would make it difficult for SBC to sell the former high school site near the yard. The school site is earmarked for housing in the council's Local Plan.
