Potential housing sites in Hawick on market for £2.4m

Two separate development plots in Slitrig Crescent, one of them home to the former John Turnbull and Sons dye factory, are on the market for a combined asking price of £2.4m.

The first, 1.88-acre site already has valid planning consent from Scottish Borders Council for the building of 62 apartments and six townhouses.

And the second, 2.4-acre area of land has previous planning consent for 64 apartments and 11 detached houses.

Although consent has now lapsed for the second development site a spokesman for DM Hall, the Edinburgh-based chartered accountant marketing the land, said: “The local planning authority is likely to have a positive outlook to reactivation and revision of this account.”

The spokesman added: “Much of the land has been cleared for development.

“Some industrial buildings remain in active use on the second site, but vacant possession can be obtained at relatively short notice.”

The land has a long history of previous planning bids that have come to nothing.

Back in 2010, there was an application for 62 apartments for over-65s at the former dye factory building, demolished in 2002, two years after it closed with the loss of 22 jobs.

Several years earlier, there were also plans for a 36-house mews development and children’s play area on the former factory land.

Hawick and Hermitage councillor George Turnbull hopes the momentum of several new regeneration projects in Hawick will attract a new developer to come forward.

He said: “Hawick has been through the doldrums, but there are a lot of exciting projects now ongoing, with the new distillery, approval for the Aldi supermarket, completion of the 3G pitch and the flood prevention work.

“There are a lot of good news stories. It’s not all doom and gloom.

“The land at Slitrig Crescent has been sold in the past, but nothing has ever come to fruition, and I would very much like to see a resolution.

“A couple of years ago, on my own initiative, I contacted the commercial director at McCarthy and Stone to see if they would be interested in acquiring the Turnbull site, but it didn’t tick all the boxes for them.

“Now, with so many projects planned in Hawick, let’s hope a developer will come forward.”