Glentress Forest 'masterplan' endorsed

The masterplan sets out a 20-year vision for the future of the forest

Borders councillors have endorsed the draft of a development masterplan for one of the region's key attractions.

Glentress Forest gets more than 300,000 visitors a year.

The proposals include about 65 cabins to provide accommodation, an enhanced visitor centre, better roads and more parking.

The draft scheme will now be subject to a three-month consultation period before it is brought back to Scottish Borders Council for final approval.

Stuart Bell, executive member for economic development at the local authority, welcomed the move.

"The Glentress masterplan outlines some of the aspects of how that site could develop and improve considerably in terms of the attraction for mountain bikers," he said.

"It also opens up the opportunity for a cabin development which could attract a wider range of family visitors."

He said the development plan could have an impact throughout the Tweed Valley.

"When I go and talk to people in Peebles, it's not really understood that at the moment 300,000 visitors come to Glentress and they're hardly seen in the hills because the landscape can encompass them so well," he said.

"As well as that, we've got the opportunities of development and growth further down the river at Innerleithen which could attract many of the visitors.

"People would want to see the opportunity to make a combined visit to the sites at Glentress and the site at Innerleithen.

"The masterplan opens up the opportunity for aspects of that."