COUNCILLORS have agreed to fund the building of a permanent home for the Great Tapestry of Scotland in the Borders.
Members of Scottish Borders Council voted 21-10 in favour of allocating up to £3.5 million towards the project which will be built on a greenfield site on an industrial estate in Tweedbank, near Galashiels, Selkirkshire.
The world's longest tapestry - which celebrates the history of Scotland and its achievements from the end of the last ice Age to the 21st Century - has been on display at various venues throughout Scotland since it was officially unveiled in September 2013 in the Scottish Parliament.
It will now be sited near to the end of the new £353m Borders Railway line which is currently under construction linking the region with Edinburgh.
The Scottish Government has pledged £2.5m towards the scheme and the green light for the Borders contribution was given after Jura Consultants said the tapestry would bring money to the local economy.
The report stated total cost of constructing a building to host it - including a cafe, workshop and exhibition space - has been estimated at around £6m.
Siting the Great Tapestry of Scotland at Tweedbank could provide the equivalent of 17 full time jobs.
It added the building could draw tens of thousands of visitors a year to the site.
A council report described it as a "unique opportunity" for the Scottish Borders to have an "exhibition of national significance" with ties to the region's textiles traditions.
"It will provide a potential hub for local and international events.
"A location at Tweedbank has the opportunity to create a destination for the area with direct links to other local attractions such as Abbotsford House and Melrose Abbey."
But Conservative opposition councillors said they were unhappy no attempt was made to source private investment before, they said, public money was committed and warned services would suffer.
Some councillors in Hawick also expressed dissatisfaction at they felt their town, as the centre of the region's textile trade, should have been given more consideration.
Officially the world's largest embroidered tapestry, the 469ft (143m) artwork uses 300 miles (483km) of yarn to depict 42 million years of Scottish history across 160 panels.
It has toured around Scotland but the Borders, with its history in the textiles industry, is keen to house it on a permanent basis.
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