Freeze forces Borders budget talks delay

Snow in the Borders has prompted the cancellation of the budget meetings

A series of public meetings to discuss council budgets in the Borders has been postponed due to severe winter weather.

Scottish Borders Council had planned to stage the events to look at the impact of spending cuts.

The first event in Selkirk on Tuesday night was cancelled and further meetings have now been put off until a later date.

They were scheduled to take place in Kelso on Wednesday, Hawick on 13 December and Eyemouth on 16 December.

They will now take place some time early next year.

Travel conditions on roads across the Borders remain difficult with some bus services affected.

One school in the region, Heriot Primary, was shut but in neighbouring Dumfries and Galloway all schools were expected to be open.

SBC said it hoped that the majority of public roads in the Borders would have had at least one treatment of grit or a grit/salt mix by the end of the week.

It said main pavements would also be cleared of snow and treated.

The authority said this would provide at least one treated pavement on main arterial routes within large towns together with footway links to schools, hospitals and public buildings.

Keep up to date with the latest situation through BBC Scotland's radio bulletins in the Borders on 93.5FM and Dumfries and Galloway on 94.7FM and on the BBC Scotland news website.