Buying a building plot in or around Melrose? See how the ground falls and what constraints apply before you commit, using the Scottish Government LiDAR flown over the area and published on the Scottish Remote Sensing Portal.
Across the Melrose area (3.29 km² from the OS Open Names extent), open LiDAR covers 100% of the ground. The best survey for most of it is LiDAR for Scotland Phase 3, flown 2015–2019 on a 0.5 m grid (99.9% of the area).
Other parts use LiDAR for Scotland Phase 1, flown 2011–2012 (0.1%). A plot near the join between surveys may draw on both; the report shows which survey covers each part of your boundary.
That survey is about 7 years old. Plots in Melrose that have been cleared, filled or built on since then won't show those changes, so the report flags the date at the top of every page and checks for buildings mapped since the flight where it can.
Most of the ground across the area (96% of readings) lies between 83.4 m and 314.2 m above Ordnance Datum, with a median of 141.3 m. The extremes (82.6 m to 372.9 m) can include water surfaces and data edges, so we don't quote them as ground levels.
That makes Melrose steep ground by Scottish town standards: about a quarter or more of it falls faster than 1 in 10. On slopes like that, the cut-and-fill estimate and the fall across the plot are often the numbers that change a build budget most, so they're worth seeing before an offer.
Higher ground reaches about 314.2 m, so exposure and access gradients can matter on the upper plots.
Tiles from LiDAR for Scotland Phase 4 (flown 2020) also overlap the Melrose extent, but where surveys overlap the report uses the best one, as above.
Fitting a plane through the 10 m levels, the ground across Melrose falls generally towards the north-west at about 97.6 m per km (roughly 1 in 10). The lowest tenth of the ground lies mostly to the north-east, and the highest tenth lies mostly to the south-east.
About 14.9% of the 10 m samples are flatter than 1 in 40, while one in ten is steeper than 18.3°.
On SEPA's flood maps (medium likelihood), 9% of the Melrose extent is inside the river flood extent, 4.3% inside the surface water extent and none inside the coastal extent. The extent is a rectangle round the town, so it can take in foreshore, sea and open ground. These are indicative national maps, not a flood risk assessment; a plot report gives the figures for your own boundary.
Historic Environment Scotland has 84 listed building records in the extent (3 category A, 29 category B, 52 category C), and 2 scheduled monuments, 2 conservation areas and 1 inventory garden and designed landscape overlapping it. A plot report lists any that touch or sit near your boundary.
NatureScot protected areas overlapping the extent: River Tweed (SSSI); River Tweed (SAC).
None of the Melrose extent is within the Coal Authority's Development High Risk Area.
Nearest towns with pages here: Galashiels, 5.9 km west, median ground about 36 m higher; Selkirk, 9.4 km south-west, median ground about 24 m higher; Lauder, 13.8 km north, median ground about 39 m higher; Jedburgh, 16.8 km south-east, median ground about 21 m lower.
Sampled every 10 m, the typical slope is 6.7°, and 56.5% of the area is steeper than 1 in 10. A single plot can be much flatter or steeper than this. Its report works at 0.5 m.
| Area checked | 3.29 km² (OS Open Names extent, at most 6 km across) |
|---|---|
| LiDAR coverage | 100.0% |
| Best survey | LiDAR for Scotland Phase 3, flown 2015–2019, 0.5 m grid (99.9%); typical ±0.14 m |
| Also used | LiDAR for Scotland Phase 1, flown 2011–2012, 0.9999933999999776 m grid (0.1%); typical ±0.15 m |
| Ground levels | mostly 83.4–314.2 m AOD (2nd–98th percentile), median 141.3 m |
| Slope (10 m sample) | median 6.7°, 90th percentile 18.3°, 56.5% steeper than 1 in 10 |
| Overall fall | towards the north-west, about 97.6 m per km |
| SEPA flood maps (medium likelihood) | river 9.0%, surface water 4.3%, coastal 0.0% of the extent (awareness only, not a flood risk assessment) |
| HES records in extent | 84 listed buildings (A 3, B 29, C 52), 2 scheduled monuments, 2 conservation areas, 1 gardens and designed landscapes |
| NatureScot protected areas | 2 |
| Coal Authority high risk area | 0.0% of the extent |
Read from the open LiDAR at a 10 m sample on 2026-10-23; local data checked 2026-10-23. A plot report reads the same data at 0.5 m for your boundary only.
Accuracy. We test Scottish LiDAR against independent survey overlaps and Ordnance Survey levelled trig pillars: heights are ±0.14 m typical on open ground (95% within ±0.28 m). Results by survey phase.
Galashiels · Selkirk · Lauder · Jedburgh
Place names and extents: OS Open Names. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. LiDAR: contains Scottish Government LiDAR data, Open Government Licence v3. ©SEPA 2025; this SEPA product is licensed under the Open Government Licence version 3.0. Third-party data attribution statements: https://www.sepa.org.uk/media/5zidnja5/sepa_flood_maps_data_attribution_statements.pdf (SEPA flood maps are indicative and not suitable for individual properties). Contains Historic Environment Scotland and Ordnance Survey data © Historic Environment Scotland - Scottish Charity No. SC045925 © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Open Government Licence v3. Contains NatureScot information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3. Contains Mining Remediation Authority (formerly the Coal Authority) data, Open Government Licence v3. See data licences.