Center Parcs looked at more than 100 possible locations around the UK for its seventh holiday village, before choosing the spot on which it plans to build its first Scottish site.
Colin McKinlay, chief executive officer of Center Parcs, expressed hopes of “positive engagement” with the planning authorities, as he declared the planned holiday village would be a “gamechanger economically, locally for the Scottish Borders and for Scotland”.
The site chosen for the village is around three miles north of Hawick and 55 miles south of Edinburgh.
Center Parcs plans to build a village with about 700 lodges, catering for around 3,500 guests at any one time.
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In an interview with The Herald, Mr McKinlay emphasised that the 1,200 permanent jobs which Center Parcs says the development would bring would be non-seasonal, year-round posts, with the company’s villages being open every day.
Noting the intention to submit a planning application next year for the proposed Scottish village, he said: “Obviously there is a process we need to follow. The area we are looking at is within an area of strategic development looking for investment in the region and tourism specifically. We think we meet those criteria.”
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He added that Center Parcs was “very much looking forward to a positive engagement with the planning authorities going forward”.
Mr McKinlay said a holiday village takes between two and two-and-a-half years to build “which we would obviously only contemplate once we have the hopefully positive planning permission through”.
He revealed that Center Parcs had assessed more than 100 different locations across the UK”, and declared: “For us, the Scottish Borders is the ideal location. The area offers us an opportunity to go into an area where we are under-indexed in our presence.”
Asked if the planned village had been given a name, he said no decision had been made as yet.
He added: “Obviously, we are going to be based in the Scottish Borders.”
Asked if Center Parcs had looked at potential sites in other parts of Scotland, Mr McKinlay replied: “We have looked at many areas, in fairness. We are a business that continues to grow to meet the demand for our product and service and the experience we give.”
Center Parcs most recently opened a holiday village in 2019, at County Longford in Ireland.
Mr McKinlay declared the County Longford village had been a “resounding success”.
Commenting on the planned opening of the village in the Scottish Borders, Mr McKinlay said: “The timing for us is almost perfect, with the existing villages being almost full, and recognising a lot of people in Scotland already go down to our villages in England.”
The site lies to the east of the A7 trunk road between Hawick and Selkirk on land owned by the Buccleuch Group, which has signed an option agreement with Center Parcs.
The agreement covers approximately 1,000 acres of land, comprising open grassland and some woodland. It is expected that development on the site will extend to 400 acres.
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