Renovation of Cavers Castle held up by great crested newts

Plans to restore a roofless, crumbling castle in the Scottish Borders have been held up by great crested newts.

The presence of the protected species in a pond at Cavers Castle, near Hawick, has delayed a decision on a bid to bring it back into use.

The council's planning committee was being recommended to approve the application for the site.

However, it deferred a decision to get a "handle on the full population" of newts in the pond.

Parts of Cavers Castle, also known as Cavers House, are believed to date back to the 15th or 16th Centuries.

The building was substantially extended in about 1750, followed by a "massive redesign and remodel" in the late 19th Century.

When one of the last owners died in 1949, a buyer could not be found for the property so its contents were auctioned off and much of it demolished by explosives in 1953.

The planning committee met to discuss its fate last month but deferred a decision for a site visit.

Now the discovery of the newts has put the decision on hold again.

Scottish Borders Council's principal planning officer Craig Miller told councillors: "After the last committee we did receive an indication that there may be a European Protected Species within the pond at the south end of the site.

"The applicant was asked to carry out a pond survey and that was carried out and passed to the ecology officer confirming that the species was present in the pond.

"The survey did not contain enough detail or land searches to ascertain how many of the protected species were using the site and we need to get a handle on the full population".

Members agreed to defer a final decision until a more detailed survey had been carried out.

The committee will meet again in August but they were told there was no guarantee the information would be available in time for that.