Extra time called for in flood defence

Efforts to find a contractor to build a multi-million pound flood scheme in the Borders have been put back six months.

The extension to the procurement process in Hawick has been blamed on the “scale and complexity” of the scheme. A Scottish Borders Council s statement said the project team would work to minimise any impact on the final completion date. The defences in Hawick are expected to cost more than £44m and should be finished by 2022.