BY THROWING out race horse trainer Alistair Whillans' expansion plans, the council's building and standards committee has shown a shocking level of intransigence. And, quite frankly, the councillors who voted against Mr Whillans' proposal to build a manager's house, stable blocks, horse exerciser and pool at Newmill-on-Slitrig should take a long, hard look at themselves.

The rigidity with which the building committee has stuck to SBC planning policy - even when they were told that the accommodation part of the development was a British Horseracing Authority requirement, and that their backing for the plans was needed for Mr Whillans to keep his Jockey Club licence - really does beggar belief. And Councillor Ron Smith hit the nail on the head this week: "We should be supporting the development of a business which is very much in keeping with the traditions and interests of the town, and in no way out of place in a rural area."

Couldn't agree more, Ron. But yours are obviously not sentiments shared by nine of your fellow councillors. Okay, so this development has been deemed to be in breach of SBC's housing in the countryside policy, but surely outweighing any such breach are the the economic benefits such a development would bring to the area. Apparently not.

So Mr Whillans' only hope now is the Scottish Government. And let's hope that if he does decide to lodge an appeal at Holyrood - and we hope he does - that the mandarins look at the proposal with a far more sympathetic eye.