PLANS for the Lowood Estate have moved a step forward following a meeting of Scottish Borders Council’s (SBC) planning committee. In 2019, the council revealed it had purchased the land south of the River Tweed for £9.6 million the previous year. Some at the time suggested that SBC had overpaid. The estate, near Tweedbank, has since been earmarked for a housing development and industrial estate – with the 34-hectare site allocated for mixed use development in the 2016 local development plan. And on Monday (May 31), SBC’s planning and building standards committee unanimously approved supplementary planning guidance for the site, as well as a design guide.