SHRUB plantings on a roundabout at the entrance to a Tweeddale village are a weedy mess after a severe frost, according to residents.

And fed-up local Will Murray says that neither Transport Scotland nor its trunk road operations partner, BEAR Scotland, care that the once glorious large Hebe plants have died.

He said the roundabout is on the A702 at West Linton’s northern gateway to the village.

Mr Murray explained: “The roundabout was once covered in rather glorious large Hebe plants which looked very nice all year round as they were evergreen.

“The plants that you see now, or their remains, were killed by the severe frosts in January 2023 when the temperature went down to about -17C for several days.

“For many months we just have had a weedy volunteer sycamore growing away in the midst of the long-dead shrubs.

“One does not expect immediate action in such matters.

“Last summer when nothing had been done and all the plants were clearly dead, I wrote to the secretary of West Linton Community Council, Sally Bowie, and local SBC councillors to express my concern that the village was not looking its best with all these dead plants at its northern entrance on the A702.

“All responded with concern and agreed it was not a good look.”

Mr Murray wrote to Transport Scotland, complaining that BEAR Scotland was “not doing its job properly” and was told to contact the organisation directly.

He then got in touch with BEAR and received what he describes as “a dusty and unconcerned response” on August 28 last year.

Mr Murray said: “A year has passed since the roundabout plantings were killed by frost, and four months have passed since I raised this issue formally with BEAR Scotland.

“It seems no-one in that authority cares much about how the roundabout plantings look to the thousands of cars and people that go round it every day, much less the views of local people and representatives who have expressed their concerns. 

“I wonder where are these many areas that are in need of more immediate attention, but I suspect I am just being fobbed off.

“If there is a priority list, why not let me know where the roundabout work is sitting?

“As far as I can see, my concerns, and those of the community, are being ignored.

“I discussed again with Sally writing to BEAR again, especially as this is a great time of year to plant shrubs, but I fear simply being fobbed off as I am an ordinary member of the public and why would they care what I think?

“I thought some kind of direct action such as putting signs on the roundabout saying: ‘Plantings proudly maintained by Bear Scotland Ltd’, or similar sarcastic or humorous wording might raise the profile of the issue.

“With the roundabout being in the middle of the road it is not a safe place for ordinary people to access, and the signs possibly could be distracting to road traffic.

“I have no wish to put myself or car drivers or passengers at risk, so I have dropped that idea.”

A BEAR Scotland spokesperson said: “BEAR Scotland is responsible for maintaining a large number of landscape features adjacent to trunk roads in the South East of Scotland.

“We therefore need to prioritise improvements based on a number of factors, principally the impact on road safety.

“While there are some weeds and dead plants on Robinsland Roundabout, there are many other locations that require more immediate attention.

“We have, however, added this location to our list of landscape opportunities and will programme the works at our earliest opportunity in the next financial year.”