PLANS to renovate, better protect and increase the size of a nursing home ravaged by the winter storms have been met by a flood of opposition.

Residents had to be evacuated from Peebles Nursing Home when Storm Frank brought severe flooding to Peebles in December.

Parts of a perimeter wall of the Tweed Green property was brought down by the torrents.

And much of the property's ground floor, as well as conservatory and garden room, were badly damaged.

The 24 elderly residents have since been re-housed twice – firstly in Waverley Care Home in Galashiels, and then moved to their semi-permanent home in Craw Wood, Tweedbank.

Mansfield Care unveiled plans in June to increase the height of the front wall to give the building better protection.

They also want to replace the conservatory and garden room as well as build a ground-floor extension for more bedrooms and a laundry.

But the planning application has been met with objections from flooding experts.

Paul Lewis, senior planning officer with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), stated: "We have reviewed the information provided in this consultation and it is noted that the application site lies entirely within the medium likelihood flood extent of the SEPA Flood Map, and the site may, therefore, be at medium to high risk of flooding.

"We deem care homes as falling within the most vulnerable land use classification and as such any development of this type should be located out with the 1:1000 year flood extent."

SEPA don't oppose plans for the conservatory, garden room or laundry.

But they are against the increased number of ground-floor bedrooms.

Mr Lewis added: "Parts of the planning application are acceptable: the reinstatement to the original height of the front boundary wall... also, we consider that the replacement and small scale extension of the existing conservatory, garden room, and laundry area fall within the exemptions.

"And as such we would not object to these parts of the proposal.

"We object in principle, however, to the part of the application which proposes increasing the number of bedrooms from nine ground floor bedrooms to 15 ground floor bedrooms. This is increasing the flood risk to the building as it increases the number of vulnerable residents at risk."

SEPA have highlighted four incidents when the building was affected by flooding - in 1949, 2005 and twice last year.

Scottish Borders Council's own flood protection officers have also objected to the plans at Tweed Green.

Engineer Ian Chalmers said: "This extension is substantial and consideration has to be given to the amount of flood plain storage lost due to the development.

"The end use of the extension also causes concern, increasing the number of bedrooms, which in turn will increase the number of care home residents at this location that will be impacted upon during a flood event.

"I would therefore object to this proposal as it will place both people and property at further risk of flooding and will reduce the flood plain storage capacity within the area."

Architects working on behalf of Mansfield Care believe the increased wall height will lead to improved flood defences around the home.

And they believe the additional ground-floor bedrooms will make it easier for any future evacuations if the wall was breached by the Tweed.

Agent David Farmer stated: "We would note that increased bedroom accommodation of the ground floor of the home makes for easier evacuation in the event of a flood without reliance on the existing lift.

"It also assists the general management of the home and ability for carers to move residents around on a single level during normal day to day use.

"We propose to ask our clients to prepare a revised resilience and management plan in the event of future flood, which demonstrates the method of prevention and if required evacuation in the event of a flood."

A decision on the full planning application will be made later this year.