Dementia-friendly care village plans face delay

The first of two planned dementia-friendly care villages in the Borders has been delayed.

Work was due to begin on the £19m facility at Tweedbank this summer.

However, issues with tendering and finalising a planning application mean that builders will not move onto the Lowood site until next year at the earliest.

The 60-bedroom care village will replace the Waverley and Garden View homes once it is completed.

Plans for two developments in the Borders - at Tweedbank and Hawick - were developed after visiting a similar village in the Netherlands.

The system favours a move a way from institutionalised care by creating a "neighbourhood that is part of broader society".

Scottish Borders Council (SBC) has been working with a range of groups to progress its plans which ensure "flexibility of use both now and in the future".

Elaine Thornton Nichol - the region's older people's champion - said she believed the same urgency shown for current school building projects should be given to the care village.

She said Covid had "stopped dead" a lot of projects but they were now at the point where it should be moving forward.

"This was identified in 2017 - this is 2024 and we are still slipping and slipping and slipping," she said.

"We need to get on the front foot to be perfectly honest with you.

"I love the fact that our schools are being built which means that another two sets of kids are going to have amazing secondary school experiences.

"But I am the older people's champion for a reason."