A NEW puffin crossing is set to be installed in Peebles, despite objections from the town's community council.

The planned project at the junction of Tweed Brae and Eastgate, has been the subject of much debate over recent months.

And last week’s meeting heard that many of the community councillors had received complaints from locals regarding the proposed location.

Chairman Les Turnbull told the meeting that he had established that there had been no accidents at that location in the last 10 years, although there had been incidents at the Mercat Cross and further along the Eastgate near the Park Hotel.

Tweeddale East councillor Stuart Bell accepted this but said that the people injured in these incidents could have used the proposed puffin crossing had it been in place at that time.

He also revealed that following a safety evaluation, engineers were currently working on a design and the plan was for it to be on site as soon as possible.

In a joint statement last month all six councillors for Tweeddale (Stuart Bell, Shona Haslam, Robin Tatler, Heather Anderson, Kris Chapman and Eric Small) said: “In May 2021 the public were consulted on a puffin crossing in this location. The consultation indicated that a majority were in favour of a puffin crossing in the vicinity and this will therefore be installed in the new year.

“The design for the new crossing has been independently assessed by a reputable external road safety audit specialist and as anticipated, it has been confirmed that this location is suitable, that large vehicles will be able to safely manoeuvre and that the timetabled bus operations will not be affected.

“We believe this is an important road safety addition for Peebles and hope everyone in the town will get behind it.”

Following the meeting Mr Turnbull told us: “This is another example of SBC intransigence. We have real fears that buses will not be able to get on the bus stop once the crossing is installed because they are narrowing the road significantly and that large vehicles will not be able either enter or egress from Tweed Brae.

“We were asking not for the project to be abandoned but for a consultation on all our traffic issues including pedestrian safety.”