Borders towns pedestrian numbers drop by almost a third

Channel Street in Galashiels had the highest footfall in the Scottish Borders

The number of pedestrians walking through towns in the Borders has dropped by almost a third since 2007, according to a new report.

Footfall fell by an average of 32% in nine town centres surveyed for Scottish Borders Council.

Channel Street in Galashiels was the busiest in the region, with 16,600 pedestrians recorded over a week.

However overall footfall in the town has fallen by 18% since a similar survey in 2007.

The towns were surveyed over two days in September and October last year.

Researchers found that footfall in Melrose and Hawick dropped by 71% and 40% respectively in the last year.

However they have cast doubt on the "extreme results" and suggested that further monitoring would be needed to establish whether the figures were accurate.

Disregarding Melrose and Hawick, footfall increased by 3% between 2013 and 2014.

The report found that the decreasing pedestrian numbers matched a fall in the number of occupied buildings in the region.

The statistics also followed the pattern of the wider UK economy.

The report said: "The UK economy has been weak through most years since footfall monitoring began, and this is reflected in results.

"Although the UK economy has slowly returned to growth, this is yet to translate to the revitalisation of our town centres."