COUNCILLORS confirmed this week that they are about to complete a £1.7 million U-turn and drive cash planned for a 3G pitch in Peebles towards repairing the region's ravaged roads.

A bitter divide was created in the town last year following the decision to site the proposed all-weather facility on part of Victoria Park.

And the additional costs of developing the site, which required new changing facilities, parking areas and floodlights, had also led to internal squabbles at the local authority.

The Victoria Park plans were eventually ditched in March, with a promise to carry out a fresh consultation process into finding a better site.

But following a budget review it was agreed on Monday, during an internal meeting, to take the already allocated £1.7 million for the 3G pitch towards repairing roads.

Council leader David Parker made the announcement the following day. He stated: "Despite extensive work by officers, the failure to identify a suitable site for the 3G pitch in Peebles that is acceptable to all interested parties within the community has brought into question the overall deliverability of the pitch."

The proposals, which highlight a total of £2.4 million from capital savings diverted to roads, will be tabled at next week's full meeting of Scottish Borders Council for approval.

Since the 3G pitch was first mooted for Peebles at the start of 2014 sites at the Gytes, the High School, Haylodge and Craigerne Lane were all considered as well as Victoria Park.

One by one the sites were dismissed due to either flooding or size constraints, leaving just Victoria Park and Craigerne Lane.

During a public consultation exercise there was opposition to both sites - 66 responses against Craigerne Lane and 15 against Victoria Park.

Once Victoria Park was adopted as the preferred site a campaign group was formed opposing the plans.

And a protest petition with close to 1800 signatures was presented to the local authority.

Although Scottish Borders Council attempted to put up a united front there was also great division within the chambers.

Local councillor Willie Archibald admits he wasn't convinced by the Victoria Park plans. He told us: "I have never been against a 3G pitch for Peebles but I didn't think Victoria Park was the answer and I was having increasing doubts when the costs kept going up.

"This has been looked at in great depth and given the limited options which are available in Peebles it was never going to be delivered on budget.

"There was a realisation that any new 3G pitch plan for Peebles wasn't going to get support from enough councillors due to the costs involved.

"I hope it will come back in the future, but next time it has to be a much better thought out plan."

Scottish Borders Council initially committed £1.095 million of its 2015/16 capital cash for a 3G pitch in Peebles.

Last September the ruling Executive agreed an additional £564,200 to the project at Victoria Park.

And it was estimated that creating the full-sized facility at another site in the town, such as Peebles High School, would require even more finance.

Councillor Stuart Bell admits that he predicted the facility would be scrapped due to the location rows.

He said: "I said a year ago at the Executive meeting that if Peebles couldn't come to a decision about where to put the 3G pitch it was possible that it would never happen.

"I've sadly been proved right.

"There is still a possibility that the project can be brought back but we need to establish need before we even begin the process."

Despite strong opposition to the Victoria Park plans there was a well-supported pro-petition organised by local businessman James Swann, which quickly attracted around 700 signatures.

And football clubs in the town were also strongly supportive of the facility.

Peebles Rovers manager Gerry Rossi, who is also a well-respected children's football coach, hopes that investment in grass pitches and other facilities around the town will go some way to compensate for the disappointment of this week's news.

He said: "I received a call on Monday to say it was unlikely there will be a 3G pitch in Peebles for the foreseeable future.

"It is extremely disappointing but we now need to push on with alternative plans for facilities in the town.

"The discussions we've had so far with Scottish Borders Council about our plans for the future have been encouraging."

The proposals to divert the £1.7 million allocated to Peebles 3G pitch to road repairs will be tabled next Thursday at the full meeting of Scottish Borders Council.