PLANNERS have given the go ahead to turn part of an iconic Peebles building into a block of flats.

Scottish Borders Council approved the project for a change of use of the mansion house at Kingsmeadows Estate.

Estate owner Alan Mawer described himself as “delighted” at finally getting the thumbs up for the proposals for 12 apartments.

He re-iterated his pledge to preserve the beauty of the site and stressed that there were no plans to build houses within the 17.5 acre estate.

“It’s great news. We are delighted that it’s all finally gone through and the work starts now,” said Mr Mawer.

“We are having an open weekend on July 18-19 when anyone can come along and have a look at the show flat.” The plans submitted in November by Mr Mawer’s company Granton Homes are for one, two and three bedroom flats in the mansion that was built in 1795 as a baronial home.

The former owners of the estate, the pensions and insurance giant Standard Life, used the Listed B building as a holiday retreat for its employees.

“There’s quite a bit of work to do before the flats will be ready and they won’t all finished when we hold the open weekend next month,” said Mr Mawer.

Prices for the apartments when they are ready for sale will start at around £140,000.

Worries have been expressed by community leaders that the estate owners would seek to recoup costs by building much-needed houses on land in a prime position in Peebles.

But Mr Mawer said: “I am stressing that there are no plans to build houses. I know a lot of people would not like that. I am from Peebles myself and I don’t want to have to drive around town in a darkened vehicle.

“We do have to do something with the rest of the site and our overriding view is to have as little impact on the estate as we can, but it has to be viable.

“The main grassed area will be kept impact and we do have other ideas. We hope to make more information available soon.” The project manager, Mr Mawer’s son Mark, said: “We are holding talks with the council now and can’t say much more now about what will happen.

“But we are determined that the estate will remain a country estate and not become a housing estate.

“The bottom line is that we are not taking the most commercially viable approach to this. We think it is important to preserve this kind of environment.

“We want to safeguard the future of the estate and not allow it to fall into the hands of developers who would be keen to maximise profits by building houses on it.” Council planners gave the go ahead for the 12 flats with several conditions attached. They included the developer contributing £1,000 per dwelling house towards a second river crossing study and/or town centre traffic management improvements.

The site falls within the catchment area of Priorsford Primary School and Peebles High School and the developers are required to make a contribution of £738 per unit towards the primary school and £193 per unit for the high school. The money will go towards extending or improving the schools which are already at or near capacity.

Some contributions will also be made towards affordable housing and a play area.

The developer is required to undertake a study to identify and assess potential contamination as records indicate a petroleum storage tank was licensed on the site.

Objections to the proposals by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) were lifted on condition that there was no land raising within a defined area.