THE new owner of the Kingsmeadows Estate and its mansion house has pledged to preserve the beauty of the historic site.

Peebles resident Alan Mawer revealed that he was the successful bidder for the estate on the south side of the town.

Mr Mawer’s company Granton Homes has already applied to Scottish Borders Council for planning permission to turn the estate’s Listed B building into 12 apartments.

Community leaders have expressed fears that a successful bidder would seek to recover a lot of the costs of the deal by building houses on the estate.

But Mr Mawer told the Peeblesshire News: “We have no intention of doing that. This is a fantastic site - a beautiful amenity. The trees especially are as sacrosanct to me as anyone else.

“We have no plans for the grounds itself just yet - we are concentrating on the first stage of the project to develop the house.” The 17.5 acre estate including the 18th century house was on the market for £2.5m - half the asking price of a few years ago - before being put up for auction in the summer by insurance and pensions giant Standard Life.

The deal does not include the stable plot on the opposite side of the road.

Plans are for one, two and three-bedroomed flats in the mansion that was built in 1795 as a baronial home and in recent years has been used as a holiday retreat for Standard Life employees.

“The building is already divided into flats, so virtually everything is already in place. We will be aiming to retain the nature of the building and won’t need to make any changes to the covered entrance or the fireplaces, for instance,” said Mr Mawer.

“The flats will be finished in a mixture of styles and will come at different prices. We hope they will appeal to people in Peebles, the Borders and Edinburgh.

“We have had experience in Edinburgh and the east coast of Scotland and these will be lovely flats done to a nice level - they certainly aren’t going to be low cost.

“We hope to make further announcements in due course regarding our plans for the rest of the estate. I am keen to be as open as possible about what we are doing.” Mr Mawer, a former Peebles High School pupil, moved back to the town three years ago and he added: “I want people in Peebles to be comfortable with what we are doing and I would hope we will keep the estate looking as good as it has always done.” been optimistic of realising its ambition to set up a community hub at the site.

Crick Carleton, co-ordinator for PCT and planning committee chairman for Peebles Community Council, said: “It’s all very disappointing and to some extent it’s what we feared would happen.

“We were seeking to create opportunites for increased local employment and training and we struggle to see how this will happen under a private development.

“I know that the woodland is protected but I am not sure this would prevent developers from chancing their arm.

“Our biggest fear now is that the funding of the purchase of the estate will in part be offset by application to build and sell off additional housing - which is not an appropriate use for this B-listed wooded estate.

“This whole episode shows that communities have to have the structures in place that allow them to move quickly regarding getting funding in place.” Mr Carleton was critical of Standard Life for failing to enter into negotations regarding possible community use of the estate.

“We would have hoped that Standard Life might have entered into some discussions but we had one email from them confirming our bid and one email letting us know that our bid was unsuccessful and that was it,” he said.

“After a 60 years association with the town we would feel there could have been a little more engagement.

“We have been trying to make overtures and did speak to the agents on one occasion but that was as far as it got. We just hope that the estate will be developed in a way that’s of benefit to Peebles.” Mr Carleton added that PCT would press ahead with plans to improve connectivity in the town. They want to build a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists at the boundary of the Kingsmeadows Estate and Cavalry Park and establish an off-road path to link housing and businesses in the south east of Peebles to the town centre.

“I would hope that we would be able to open up a channel of connection with the new owners to discuss our mutual interests,” he said.