Calls go out for action to tackle flooding on A701 in Borders

A stretch of the scenic cross-country route through the western Borders is regularly left damaged at Mount Bog after heavy rainfall, and that was the case again following last month’s floods.

Highways bosses at Scottish Borders Council have lined up repairs, but Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale MP David Mundell is calling on the local authority to go further and try to come up with a long-term solution to the flooding issues besetting the route.

Mr Mundell, formerly the UK Government’s Scottish secretary, said: “I appreciate this stretch of road is built on bogland, which presents additional challenges in bad weather.

“However, this is an important route nationally, and disruption on this stretch during, and after, bad weather has caused great inconvenience to my constituents who use this road regularly, together with commercial and tourism-related traffic.

“I would urge the local authority to also explore a long-term engineering solution to reduce the risk of future damage and disruption on this stretch of road.”

Mr Mundell is also calling on Scottish Government first minister Nicola Sturgeon to honour the pledges of emergency support for flood-hit communities she made during her visit to Hawick last month, saying: “While the A701 is part of the council roads network, it is strategically very important nationally and I believe would merit Scottish Government assistance to reduce the ongoing risk of flooding at locations such as Mount Bog.”

A council spokesperson said: “The council is aware of the flooding issues associated with this section of road and the difficulties they cause for road users.

“Improvements have been undertaken in the past, but a more permanent solution requires a greater level of investment than is currently available to the council as it prioritises investment over 3,000km of roads.”