October date set for Innerleithen uplift ballot

Graham Ford • Published 13 Sep 2012 12:00

Local community group AIMUp is getting ready to hold its own mini referendum. The planned community ballot is a crucial step in securing a lease of the forest land required to build a proposed uplift.

The group needs half of the 4100 voting residents of Innerleithen, Walkerburn, Cardrona, Traquair and The Glen to show their interest by casting a vote.

Ian Campbell from AIMUp said: "Not only do we need a majority of votes cast to be in favour of our proposed lease, but in order to satisfy National Forest Land Scheme rules, we need at least 50 per cent of eligible voters to actually cast a vote."

Official ballot papers will be delivered to all residences early in October. The delivery will include details of the proposal, as well as information on how to cast a vote. To make voting as easy as possible, a Freepost return envelope will be supplied, and volunteers will also visit homes to collect votes a few days after the ballot papers are delivered.

Thursday, October 18 is the official ballot date, with ballot boxes available in each of the communities. The result will be known on the 19, and the AIMUp team hopes this vote will give the community the chance to clearly demonstrate the level of support that exists. Ian continued: "This is a great chance for this community to say yes to a proposal that would bring jobs, visitors and an economic boost to the Tweed Valley".

For further information, or if you would like to get involved please contact Ian Campbell at innerleithenaimup@gmail.com , see the group's webpage at http://aimup.org.uk/ or via Facebook 'Support-the-Innerleithen-Uplift;'.

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