Monday October 5th 2026
Former Co-op in Hawick
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
A conservation plan for Hawick “is a dream” which is unlikely to come true, according to a sceptical councillor.
Members of Scottish Borders Council’s Planning and Building Standards Committee today (Monday, October 5) rubber-stamped the draft Hawick Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan.
The plan seeks to safeguard the town’s legacy by providing an updated evidence base to guide future regeneration initiatives, heritage repair projects and planning decisions affecting the Conservation Area.
Hawick Conservation Area contains 132 listed buildings and forms one of the largest and most architecturally and historically significant town centres within the Borders.
Among the buildings featured in the report is the town’s old Liberal Club building at 80 High Street and the former Hawick Co-operative building at 63, 65 and 67 High Street, which has been unoccupied for several years.
Jedburgh Conservative councillor Sandy Scott praised the presentation of the report, which contains several vintage images.
But he was less impressed with the restrictions of development that he believes Conservation Areas impose.
He said: “It’s a wonderful report I just simply don’t know how you are going to pay for it.
“I am against this historical buildings in Conservation Areas. We are sitting in Jedburgh with a historical building in The Square and that has taken nine years and nobody seems to have any money.
“Who is going to pay for all these things, we don’t have any money in the bank.
“I’m old enough to remember that Hawick had a railway station, had a slaughterhouse, had an auction mart, had 15 rugby teams.
“Are we going to cocoon this Conservation Area? We can’t do it in Jedburgh. We have the grammar school site and we are sitting there dwindling our thumbs.
“No commercial players are going to come in and buy it because it’s a listed building in a Conservation Area. It’s a dream as far as I am concerned.”
Deborah McLean, SBC’s Lead Officer, Heritage & Design, responded, saying: “With this document we don’t believe we are imposing anything on the residents of Hawick.
“This document can be used by town teams as a basis of funding applications because it’s actually saying what is special about the town.”
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