A PLANNING application involving an historic Peebles site was withdrawn from the agenda at a council committee meeting amid uncertainties over the legal landscape.

Protestors have been engaged in a long-running battle to prevent development on land next to Kingsmeadows House.

Granton Homes was granted planning permission in principle (PPP) for 14 apartments in the grounds of the house in 2016.

The developer was allowed to 'renew' that permission in 2021.

The firm is now looking to remove the word “except” from the second condition of the PPP, due to run out in March 2026.

Objectors say the change will effectively give Granton Homes a further five years of permission at the site.

The council's Planning and Building Standards Committee met on Monday to review the bid to alter the condition.

But the item was dropped from the agenda due to question marks over which law should be applied due to changes in legislation across the years.

Nuala McKinlay, director of corporate governance at the council, said: "You need to be confident, elected members, that when you make decisions on this matter that you know what the legal playing field is."

She apologised to members of the public who had travelled to the council chambers to hear the discussion.