WORK is to finally start on a new distillery in the Borders after a planning ‘loophole’ was removed.

It was back in 2013 that an ambitious project for a distillery and visitor centre on the site of the former Jedforest Hotel at Lintalee, north of Camptown, was first unveiled by Mossburn Distillers.

Scottish Borders Council (SBC) planners approved the project in 2016 but flooding concerns raised by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency led to the application being forwarded to Holyrood for ministerial approval.

The Scottish Government announced in February 2017 that it had decided not to intervene in the process, allowing the local authority’s approval for the proposals to stand.

Initial work started on the site, just off the A68, late in 2017 but ceased completely at the end of that year.

The halting of the work coincided with the UK Government giving the go-ahead for Brexit and whisky tariffs being levied by US president Donald Trump.

Now work is poised to resume at last on the multi-million pound distillery which will create “dozens of jobs”.

At a meeting of SBC's Planning and Building Standards Committee on Monday (February 5), members agreed to remove a condition from the original application requiring a bus stop by the A68 after the applicant argued that it was not needed.

That means work on the development can start within weeks.

Committee chair Simon Mountford, a councillor for Kelso, said: “I am delighted this application seems to be moving forwards. Having been part of the committee that approved the original application I thought it was an exciting proposal at the time and I still think it’s exciting, and I also look forward to sampling some of the produce in due course, purely in the interests of science.”

Mid Berwickshire councillor Donald Moffatt added: “It’s nice to see this all coming forward and I look forward to it coming to fruition.”

“This is third time lucky,” said Jedburgh councillor Sandy Scott, adding: “They had a go in 2017, 2020 and now this in 2024 and I just ask you ladies and gentlemen to approve this and let’s get the distillery up and running.”