Scottish Borders Council opposition fails in garden waste reversal bid
Opposition members on Scottish Borders Council have failed to overturn a decision to scrap garden waste collections by the end of March.
The Conservatives, along with a handful of administration councillors, were unsuccessful in their original bid to block the move back in December.
The authority voted 19 to 12 in favour of the plan two months ago.
It was argued that the move, to save £450,000 a year, was necessary due to tightening council budgets.
SBC is run by an Independent, Lib Dem and SNP coalition with the Conservative group forming the only opposition.
It wanted to see the plan to remove garden waste collections dropped.
However, it failed to overcome a procedural hurdle in order to even get the issue discussed when the full council met in Newtown St Boswells.
Standing orders needed to be suspended to allow the debate to take place - but councillors voted 21 to 10 against the move.
Conservative group leader Michelle Ballantyne had said she wanted the garden waste service to continue for at least another six months to allow the council's waste management arrangements to be fully examined.