HOPES are high that a glaring deficiency in a track popular with thousands of cyclists and walkers will soon be remedied.

The £1m Tweed Valley Railway Path from Innerleithen grinds to a halt on the edge of Peebles at present, forcing users to complete the journey into town on the busy A702 or the pavement at the roadside.

But at Peebles Community Council meeting this month it was revealed that proposals have been made to extend the path through the centre of a new housing development planned for Innerleithen Road.

The project will also require use of some land belonging to the Peebles Hotel Hydro - but bosses of the hotel are thought to be agreeable to the idea.

Crick Carleton, the chairman of Peebles Community Council’s planning committee, said: “The developer would build part of the path but this still requires the owners of the Hydro to allow use of the paths on their property to link with the multi-use path and the path through the proposed development. “Indications are that the Hydro owners are happy to help and the estate manager of the Hydro is meeting with Scottish Borders Council planning officers to discuss the matter.

“Maybe they would consider putting a cafe in there as well.” The Tweed Valley Path opened in August last year and has been a great success with more than 50,000 cyclists, walkers and horse riders estimated to have used it in the first 12 months.

The six-mile path follows the route of the old railway line. It includes a new bridge over the river at the edge of Cardrona and utilises an old railway tunnel at Eshiels.

The path was built was built with the help of funding from the Scottish Government, Sustrans (the sustainable transport charity) and SBC.

It was also disclosed that a path running from Peebles to Lyne has been approved subject to a few changes.