Glentress 'masterplan' to be drawn up

Forestry Commission Scotland said businesses were keen to be involved with the Glentress project

A "masterplan" is being drawn up for Glentress Forest in the Scottish Borders to help its development as a "major recreation destination".

Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) wants to ensure activities are "co-ordinated in a sustainable way".

It said one "key component" would be listening to the views of the local community, businesses and forest users.

A number of events are planned in the near future to allow the public to have its say on the project.

Hugh McKay, communities and recreation manager based at Glentress, said: "It has been a busy but good first year for Glentress Peel.

"Visits are over 301,000 for the year, we've won a gold rating from the Green Tourism Business scheme, a four-star VisitScotland award and Go-Ape is now operating in the forest.

"The café and bike services have well and truly bedded in and we are getting positive comments on the site as a whole.

"This is all good news but we don't want to stand still and we think that Glentress has more to offer in support of Scottish government objectives."

He said they were regularly being approached by new businesses keen to talk about future development but the FCS did not want to do this "in a piecemeal way".

"This is where the new Glentress masterplan comes in, as it will take a very thorough look at the bigger picture that could be offered," he said.

Mr McKay said that while the taxpayer contributed about 25% of the cost of running Scotland's forests, the rest had to be raised by business.

"We've worked very hard to build in better income streams at Glentress," he said.

"This means we are moving towards a more self-supporting status where we break even but we still have a long way to go."

Workshop sessions for "key stakeholders" will be in early May.

The first open days for members of the public will be on the afternoons of 24 and 25 May at Glentress Peel.