THE Convenor of Scottish Borders Council is putting his weight behind plans for a major hotel chain opening in Tweedbank.

As part of the £10 million Border Gateway development, which sits just off the A6091, are plans to create the region's first Premier Inn.

And now that developers have dropped controversial proposals to include a new supermarket, the plans are being given the thumbs up from David Parker.

Mr Parker, who represents Leaderdale and Melrose at the local authority, told us: "I am pleased that Newland Assets have listened carefully to the representations they have received concerning the Borders Gateway proposals.

"A Class 1 food retail store was very much against local and national planning policy for the site in Tweedbank as it introduced out of town shopping but the developer has listened carefully to various concerns on this issue and removed it.

“The new proposals have taken on board many observations made so far during the planning process and the revised plans are better in terms of design, road layout and visual impact.

"I am very excited about the economic impact this development could have on the wider Borders economy.

“Securing a Premier Inn for the Scottish Borders will help put our region firmly on the tourism map and the economic impact of Premier Inn and the potential for other investors to follow them, is something which must be grasped.

“The revised Borders Gateway proposals will complement the work taking place to develop the Tweedbank Innovation Park and will sit comfortably alongside the public and private sector projects which are underway at Tweedbank at present."

The £10 million Borders Gateway development also includes a BP filling station, a Costa drive-thru coffee shop, and a M&S kiosk.

And it is expected that the new outlets will create up to 80 jobs.

Although the wider vision of the development had been welcomed, the supermarket part of the plans had come in for criticism.

And Newland Assets revised their plans to omit the supermarket earlier this year.

Councillor Parker added: “Borders Gateway has the overwhelming support of the public and many businesses in the area and now that the food retail plans have been dropped there is no reason why these proposals should not be fully endorsed by the planners and backed by Scottish Borders Council.

"The economic advantages of this proposal significantly outweigh the very small number of policy considerations which are left.

“Although it was right for the planners to raise concerns about the previous proposal, now that the developer has listened carefully to all the objections and amended the plans accordingly to deal with them, the Borders public simply won’t understand why the council isn’t backing this ambitious inward investment opportunity.

"It will help bring new jobs and secure existing jobs and undoubtedly lead to a tourism boost in the Scottish Borders.

“I look forward to this development receiving approval and work commencing on site.”