PCC Logo

Community Council

of the Royal Burgh of Peebles & District

PCC Logo

Community Council

of the Royal Burgh of Peebles & District

PCC Logo

Who we are

Peebles and District Community Council (PCC) is governed by the Scottish Borders Council (SBC) Scheme for Community Councils (see boundary maps). Read our constitution and standing orders.

We are local people with an interest in our community. Our 18 members may serve for up to 3 years before standing for re-election. We regularly co-opt members for their skills and to fill vacancies.

The six elected Scottish Borders Councillors from East and West Tweeddale are `ex-officio' (non-voting) members who provide a valuable link to and from SBC.

What we do

Our main role is to:

SBC has a responsibility to

  • Consult with PCC about how local services are delivered
  • Inform us of changes to services & issues that may affect our area
  • More info in SBC's Community Council Training Handbook

When & where we meet

Ordinary Meetings of the Council are held on the Second Thursday of each month in the Burgh Hall, Peebles. These meetings normally start at 7:00pm and continue until approximately 9:00 pm.

Our meetings are publicised in the Peeblesshire News the week before the meeting with any changes to time and venue advertised.

Minutes and reports

Minutes and reports from the chair, planning convenor and police are available in Documents.

There is also a copy of the minutes and agenda displayed on the Community Council Noticeboard each month. The board is situated on the right of the archway leading to the Chambers Institution and Quadrangle. A further copy is located in the library. Please ask the librarian for the Community Council folder.

Next ordinary meeting

7pm Thursday 12th September 2024 – Agenda

Come along

All meetings are open to the public.

Each meeting allows 10 minutes for a Question and Answer session for members of the public to ask a question on any subject of relevance to the community council.

Citizen Space – Consultations

Contribute your views on open consultations and find out what changed in response to previous consultations for SBC Citizen Space and Scottish Government consultations. On each site you can scroll down to "see all open consultations".

The annual Peebles in Bloom Awards Ceremony was held in the Burgh Hall on Thursday 21st August. The project is run by Peebles Community Council. Our team walked all around the whole town and listed front gardens worthy of further inspection by judges. In addition, Secret Gardens – those which cannot be seen from the pavement – were nominated by residents.

The number of nominated gardens was whittled down and then visited by 5 teams of judges. Several factors are considered: variety, maintenance and colourfulness, as well as the presence of flowers and plants attractive to bees, butterflies and other insects.

The garden owners were welcomed to the event by Peter Maudsley, Chairman of Peebles Community Council. Peter acknowledged that 2025 has been a challenging summer for gardeners. The heat has been intense at times, it has also been very dry but when the rain has come it has often been quite torrential. Just a few weeks ago we had Storm Floris to contend with and yet despite it all the people in the hall had managed to create beautiful gardens. Peter also commended the wonderful dedication of the volunteer members of Bonnie Peebles and Floral Peebles. The tubs, flowerbeds and hanging baskets around the town are amazing.

He thanked Community Councillors Gill MacDonald, Anne Snoddy and Sheila Mackay for organising the project, and the people who supported the Peebles in Bloom project in so many other ways: the judges Carolyn Spray and Maggie Mowbray, Thomas Gifford and Grant Skillen, Jan Cameron and Helen Dewberry, Garry Rennie and Mark Bain, and John Falla and Drew Fraser; Garry Rennie for being Master of Ceremonies at the event, Chris Wood for managing the technical side of things, and Chris Mackie for organising the raffle to which the Community Councillors contributed gifts with a gardening theme.

During the evening there were interesting talks by Jane Davidson about the enjoyment experienced – and the benefits derived - by schoolchildren working in the Priorsford Primary School Garden, Carolyn Spray of Pentland Plants about the use of peat free compost, and Maggie Mowbray about pollinators.

The trophies were presented by local resident Brian Elliot. Brian has created a wonderful display of plants on the banking up at Kingsway and has gained many accolades and awards for it over the years.

The stage of the Burgh Hall was adorned with an array of colourful plants donated by Pentland Plants. Guests were invited to take the plants home at the end of the evening.

The OVERALL WINNER was Mrs Mandi Bain.

Mandi has a wonderful large garden at 22 Connor Ridge which often features in our Peebles in Bloom Awards. She has now developed a colourful plot in the communal area opposite her house which will give pleasure to all who pass by. As if that wasn’t enough she has also created a lovely display around the bench at the 4th tee on Peebles Golf Course which even features a chandelier hanging above the bench!

The other results are as follows:

All Year Round Gardens

Highly Commended: 1 Jubilee Park Bronze: 61 Edderston Road Silver: 10 Violet Bank Gold: Broomhill, 11 Venlaw Quarry Road

Courtyard Gardens

Highly Commended: 18 North Place Highly Commended: 19 Whitehaugh Avenue Bronze: 63A Old Town Silver: 14 Cademuir Drive Gold: 2 Haystoun Place

Very Small Gardens

Bronze: 3 Edderston Ridge Court Silver: 89 Whitehaugh Park Gold: 33 Kingsway

Small Gardens

Highly Commended: Ambleside, 31 Crossland Crescent Bronze: 24 Dukehaugh Silver: 50 Eliots Park Gold: Bisley, Damdale

Medium Size Gardens

Highly Commended: Easdale, The Mount Bronze: 54 Edderston Road Bronze: 16 Wemyss Place Bronze: 52 Eliots Park Silver: 33 Dukehaugh Gold: 88 Dalatho Crescent

Large Gardens

Bronze: Linen House, Tweed Green Silver: 15 Dukehaugh Gold: 9c Damdale

Street (a row of 3 or more attractive gardens)

Highly Commended: 15 – 21 March Street Bronze: 15 - 27 Connor Street Silver: 6-16 South Parks Gold: Rose Park

Secret Gardens

Highly Commended: 6 Provost Melrose Place Bronze: 4 Bonnington Road Silver: 33 Kingsway Gold: 5 The Loanings

Community Gardens

Bronze: The Glebe Community Garden, Innerleithen Road Silver: The Secret Garden, Deans Wynd Gold: Priorsford Primary School Garden

Business Displays

Bronze: Gustav’s Studio Silver: Peebles Nursing Home Gold: Central Bar

Finally just for fun there was a floral shirt competition. Mrs Helen Taylor picked out John Falla as the winner from a line-up of flowery shirted good sports!

The winners The winners

Danny Shaw of the Central Bar with the Alasdair Stewart Trophy for the best Business Display Danny Shaw of the Central Bar with the Alasdair Stewart Trophy for the best Business Display

Jackson Hall and Jane Davidson, Community Garden Award Jackson Hall and Jane Davidson, Community Garden Award

Mrs Jean McFarlane who won the Medium Garden trophy Mrs Jean McFarlane who won the Medium Garden trophy

Mrs Mandi Bain who was the Overall Winner Mrs Mandi Bain who was the Overall Winner

Rose Park Street Award Rose Park Street Award

A room full of gardeners A room full of gardeners

Download the PowerPoint garden slide show.

To find out, take a look at this award winning, beautifully illustrated, immersive feature from Nature on the human brain and what makes it so special when compared to other animals.

Closes 31 Aug 2025

Scottish Borders Council and Borders Community Action (BCA) are proud to announce the upcoming launch of the revitalised Neighbourhood Support Fund (NSF)—a strategic partnership supporting stronger, healthier communities.

With £180,000 available, the NSF will fund grassroots projects that focus on:

  • Community Regeneration
  • Skills Development
  • Connected Communities
  • Health and Wellbeing

Grants from £500 to £5,000 will be available for both revenue and capital projects. Applications are open until 31 Aug, with full guidance available. Info on many other grants is available on the BCA funding portal.

Peebles Burgh Hall drop in 2-7pm Tue 12 Aug Peebles Burgh Hall 2-7pm, 12 Aug

Live Borders & SBC are hosting events in 19 settlements across the Scottish Borders.

Find dates and times of events near you

Peebles Burgh Hall drop in 2-7pm Tue 12 Aug 2-4pm Tue 12 Aug book now

Peebles Community Council called for Live Borders funding to be restored to sustainable levels and an end to the threats to sporting and cultural services after considering a report into the "Joint Transformation" of Live Borders at its 12 June meeting.

A relentless series of escalating cost cutting saw SBC effectively halve payments in real terms to Live Borders since 2016, SBC data show (fig. 1).

The blue trend shows the shortfall between actual SBC payments to Live Borders (grey) vs payments needed to keep up with inflation (coloured) – with 2024 payments half that of 2016.

Live Borders Management Fee 2016–24 1. Live Borders funding 2016–24

However, funding from Scottish Government to the 32 local councils in Scotland remained flat (fig. 2), with average culture & leisure cuts less than half the level of SBC cuts to Live Borders.

In order to protect much needed services, Peebles Community Council calls for:

  • Funding to be restored to a sustainable level
  • A halt to threats to privatise, transfer or transform sporting and cultural venues
  • Scrapping of the current Live Borders consultation, which is attracting high levels of criticism
  • Meaningful engagement with the public on SBC's full transformation agenda.

Live Borders Management Fee 2016–24 2. Govt funding to councils stable

Live Borders was set up by SBC in order to ensure that they meet their obligations under the legislation to provide adequate facilities for recreational, sporting, cultural and social activities. That obligation rests with SBC and cannot be farmed out. Consequently, SBC have a duty of care for the oversight of Live Borders.

PCC's view is that our community should not be punished by cuts to much needed services, with any pain spread across SBC's entire £344m budget.

Read the full PCC Briefing.

Submit comments to SBC's consultation.

Dear Recipient,

Following on from the communication sent to you at the end of April, we wanted to highlight that we have now commenced consultation and engagement on sport, leisure and cultural services and facilities in the Scottish Borders with the launch of an online survey.

The survey gives everyone the opportunity to comment on more than 30 different facilities/ services across the Borders.

Live Borders and the Council will also be engaging directly with representatives from key community and stakeholder groups across the region and will also host drop-in events, have pop-up information stands in high footfall locations and hold live online events where public questions will be addressed. Comment cards will be available in all Live Borders venues from Monday 2 June to enable customers to provide feedback.

Further information on our engagement plan, which will be updated as more details are finalised, and a link to the survey can be found at Joint Review of sport, leisure & cultural services. We will reach out to stakeholders directly to arrange face-to-face discussions as appropriate.

Our engagement activities will run throughout the next three months, with a view to feedback being provided to stakeholders in September and proposals being developed for Elected Members to consider in the autumn.

Our conversations over the coming months will be vital in building a full picture of priorities, how services and facilities are used, where alternatives exist, and what the impacts of different options might be. It is important to emphasise too that we are seeking to engage on the full range of options for many of Live Borders’ valued services and facilities, not just those proposed by Integratis, the independent consultants that undertook a review earlier this year and whose report was discussed by Council at the end of April.

Regards,

Jenni Craig, Director – Resilient Communities, Scottish Borders Council

Bill Douglas, Chairman, Live Borders

Questions? jtcp@scotborders.gov.uk

More info from SBC

Public comment

Borders Community Action (BCA) is delighted to announce the launch of a brand-new Funding Portal, designed to help community groups, charities and voluntary organisations across the Scottish Borders identify and access funding more easily.

The portal is completely free to use for members of Borders Community Action. Better yet, membership of BCA is free, meaning all community organisations across the region are encouraged to sign up today and gain instant access to this powerful new resource.

The funding portal enables users to search a wide range of local, national and UK-wide grant and funding opportunities tailored to the needs of the third sector. From small project grants to large-scale programme funding, the portal offers an intuitive search and filtering system to make finding relevant funding easier than ever before.

Organisations can register for access via the following link: Scottish Borders Community Funding Portal

Juliana Amaral, CEO of Borders Community Action, said:

“We know that many local organisations are facing incredibly challenging times financially. That’s why we’ve launched this portal – to make it easier for our members to find the right funding at the right time. By working together and making resources like this available, we can empower communities to take the lead in delivering local solutions.”

Borders Community Action continues to champion collaborative working and direct investment in the third sector across the region alongside partners. The new portal has been made possible through funding obtained from the Local Employability Partnership and is another step in ensuring that organisations have the tools they need to sustain and grow their impact.

For more information or to become a member of Borders Community Action, visit the BCA website.

For media enquiries or further information, please contact: Steven Walker (Communications and Impact Officer, Borders Community Action) or Scottish Borders Council

Peebles and District Community Council are pleased to announce that the Peebles in Bloom competition will take place again this summer. There are many beautiful gardens in Peebles, and we feel it is important to recognise all the hard work which goes into making this town such an attractive place to live in and to visit.

In July Community Councillors will walk all around the town looking at front gardens and business premises in order to produce a list of gardens and displays that they feel are worthy of consideration (so don’t worry if you see someone studying your garden and making notes on a clipboard, it’s probably just one of us!) Then there is a review to create a short list followed by a tour by independent judges who make the final decisions.

We need the public’s help with two aspects (see our contact details below). Firstly, if you know of a front garden which is really special then please tell us. That way we can be sure we won’t miss any. Secondly, let us know about any ‘secret gardens’ which cannot be seen from the pavement.

The Secret Gardens category is just one of ten categories. The others are Very Small Garden, Small Garden, Medium Garden, Large Garden, All Year Round Garden, Business Premises, Courtyard Garden, Best Street and Community Garden.

The prize giving will be in the Burgh Hall on 21st August.

We will be in touch shortly with last year’s winners in order to collect in the trophies.

Community Council contact details
Email: Anne Snoddy (Secretary) secretary@ccrbpeebles.co.uk
Phone: 07980 587139
Address: c/o Eastgate Theatre, Eastgate, Peebles EH45 8AD

Consultation event 2–7 pm Thu 6 Mar 2025

We would like to invite you to an information session to learn more about proposed active travel routes through Peebles alongside the River Tweed. The proposed route will form part of the River Tweed Trail, a new long distance source to sea path from Moffat to Berwick-upon-Tweed. More information here.

The aim of the session will be to gain feedback on proposed designs and options between Fotheringham and Priorsford footbridges. We will also have information on proposals for path links through Haylodge Park.

When: Thursday 6th March 2025 2.00pm - 7.00pm.
Where: Go Tweed Valley Information Centre, Peebles High Street, Peebles, EH45 8AG
Who: You will be able to speak to project staff from Scottish Borders Council & Tweed Forum.

Public Consultation Event

Online survey 6–23 Mar 2025

Please fill in the online citizen space survey, available from Thursday 6th March to Sunday 23rd March.

Results and way forward

Results from the survey have been collated. Destination Tweed's project team meets Mon 12 May to review results and confirm the way forward. We anticipate consultation results and feedback will be published soon after.

News archive