Center Parcs: New £450m UK site approved
A new £450m Center Parcs holiday village is to be constructed in Scotland after the proposals were given the green light.
A total of 700 lodges are to be built at the site approximately three miles north of Hawick and 55 miles south of Edinburgh, as well as newly created lochs, nature trails and a woodland.
The development will also feature an indoor swimming complex, a health spa, outdoor activities, shops and restaurants.
Members of Scottish Borders Council’s planning committee approved the Center Parcs proposal at a meeting today.
The plans had attracted objections from around 40 people who live near to the site.
Center Parcs currently operates six locations across the UK and Ireland. The new site will be officially called Center Parcs Scottish Boarders.
The company has said the development will support around 800 jobs during construction while the park itself will create about 1,200 permanent roles.
According to Scottish Borders Council, the Center Parcs development will attract more than 350,000 visitors to the region every year.
It also said the extra jobs would bring up to £40m a year into the local economy.
CEO hails ‘whirlwind journey’
Colin McKinlay, CEO of Center Parcs, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have secured planning permission for the creation of our seventh Center Parcs village.
“It has been a whirlwind journey since we first announced our intention to bring Center Parcs to the region, and the welcome we have received from local communities, businesses and stakeholders has been genuinely heartening.
“Their engagement has been invaluable in shaping the design of the village and in supporting the development of a robust, well-considered planning application, and we look forward to continuing that engagement in the months and years ahead.
“We’re also pleased to confirm that the new village will be named Center Parcs Scottish Borders.
“We explored a range of options, but this was the name we kept returning to. Put simply, we want the village to be an anchor destination that draws visitors to this wonderful region – and we believe this name will help do exactly that.
“The opportunities this development will create for the area are truly enabling and transformative.”
New Center Parcs has ‘potential to be transformational’ to local economy
In a statement released ahead of the meeting, lead planning officer Barry Fotheringham said: “The proposals justify a clear requirement for a large rural site located outwith any settlement and there are demonstrable economic and social benefits, not just to the Scottish Borders region but to Scotland as a whole.”
He added: “Given the scale and size of the development, it is accepted that there will be impacts but having regard to the mitigating factors set out in the accompanying documentation submitted with the application, the proposals will not have an adverse impact on the landscape or the environment.
“There will be a negligible impact on the residential amenity of neighbouring properties, impacts on the surrounding road network are limited.
“The proposal, which represents a £450m investment in the region, has the potential to be transformational in the context of the Borders economy, delivering year-round quality jobs as well as hundreds of thousands of new visitors annually, and is likely to act as a catalyst for wider economic regeneration.”
The plans for the new Center Parcs were first revealed in November 2024.
New site will take a ‘bold, new approach’
In a statement released when the proposals were unveiled, Center Parcs UK&I CEO Colin McKinlay said: “This is a tremendously exciting project and offers the opportunity to transform leisure and tourism in the Scottish Borders.
“Center Parcs is an exceptionally popular destination for families in the UK and Ireland and there is robust demand to support a seventh village.
“Throughout our history, we have demonstrated that a Center Parcs village provides significant economic benefits locally, regionally and nationally.
“Many Scottish families already visit Center Parcs villages in England, and this village will offer the chance for people to enjoy their holidays closer to home, which in turn will benefit the local economy.
“Sustainability is core to our values. In our three decades of operating in the UK and Ireland, we have transformed areas of commercial woodland into a rich tapestry of flora and fauna, considerably enhancing the biodiversity of each village.
“This site gives us the opportunity to take a bold, new approach and create a woodland ourselves, delivering significant biodiversity net gain and planting thousands of new trees.
“We are at an early stage with these proposals and have a lengthy and thorough planning process ahead.
“We have already conducted a significant number of surveys to assess the site and we intend to continue with additional site surveys and design development, alongside a programme of pre-planning application consultation and community engagement.”
Center Parcs profit slashed as revenue rises
The planning permission has been granted after Center Parcs’ profit was slashed during its latest financial year.
Accounts filed in October for the firm’s financial year to 24 April, 2025 show its pre-tax profit was cut from £112.1m to £65.3m.
The documents published on Companies House, however, also revealed its revenue increased over the same period from £704.1m to £734.8m.
In the year Center Parcs hosted 2.4m guests and had an occupancy rate of more than 97 per cent.
Its capital expenditure totalled £96.3m while its operating profit, before adjusted items, came to £245.7m.
Center Parcs opened its first UK and Ireland site in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, in 1987 and its most recent in County Longford in 2019.
Its other holiday villages are located in Suffolk, Wiltshire, Cumbria and Bedfordshire.