Wednesday November 26th 2025
Trout in the Selkirkshire farm
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
A trout farm in Selkirkshire is to be converted into a storage site for up to 250 caravans, campervans, boats and trailers.
Proposals from Yarrow Fishery to form a storage compound at its facility situated up the Yarrow Valley between Yarrowford and Yarrow have been approved by Scottish Borders Council
The plan is to infill existing ponds with material stored on site that was used to create the ponds and to import material to make up the deficit caused by creating a flood bank and roads.
The proposal is to then use the land for the storage of the vehicles.
A report approving the application, from assistant SBC planning officer Alla Hassan, stated: “The application site was a former trout farm which has ceased operations (in 2023) due to inability to achieve economic viability. As such, the application seeks consent for the infill of the existing ponds and change of use for storage of containers, caravans, campervans, boats and trailers.
“Whilst a storage use would ordinarily be expected to be located within a settlement boundary, the applicant has noted that current land values within settlements are prohibitively high, making the venture financially unviable.
“On this basis, I am on balance satisfied that a sound business case has been provided and that, in addition to the benefit of reusing this brownfield site, the principle of the proposal, in this instance, can be supported.”
The fishery was constructed in 1979 and uses the Megget Reservoir compensation flow for guaranteed water flow at all times, a very important requirement for trout farming.
Trout farming has declined in recent years and since Covid it has taken a further drop in production and it has now become infeasible for the business to continue, especially with fees imposed by SEPA.
A report with the original application stated: “Because of this we need to find a new business for the site and one of the primary objectives is to fill in the ponds and make the site level.
“We would like to do this with local river gravel which is what the entire floor of the Valley is made of including the fish farm.
“Once level we would like to use the site for caravan/motorhome and boat storage. No one will be allowed to stay on site overnight.
“The site is not visible from the road (A708) and is only accessible via one track in and out making it very secure and unobtrusive, in fact we have met a few people in the Valley that never knew the fish farm was there after living here for many years.
“We would like to store up to 250 caravan units on the site in single designated areas.
“We are currently in discussions with CaSSOA (Caravan Storage Site Assoc.) as to what will need to provide in terms of facilities and security. A card entry gate is likely to be used for owners to gain access to their caravan. We currently have a WiFi based CCTV system for the farm and will likely add to this.
“Once we have an export figure from SP and we are able to do so we intend to install a solar array on the buildings somewhere between 20 and 50 kw.”
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