Buying a building plot in or around Selkirk? 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 Selkirk area (10.51 km² from the OS Open Names extent), open LiDAR covers 92.3% of the ground. The best survey for most of it is LiDAR for Scotland Phase 4, flown 2020 on a 0.5 m grid (92% of the area).
Other parts use LiDAR for Scotland Phase 3, flown 2015–2019 (0.2%). 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 6 years old. Plots in Selkirk 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 110.2 m and 263.7 m above Ordnance Datum, with a median of 165.6 m. The extremes (105.8 m to 291.4 m) can include water surfaces and data edges, so we don't quote them as ground levels.
That makes Selkirk 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 263.7 m, so exposure and access gradients can matter on the upper plots.
Tiles from LiDAR for Scotland Phase 1 (flown 2011–2012) also overlap the Selkirk extent, but where surveys overlap the report uses the best one, as above.
Fitting a plane through the 10 m levels, the ground across Selkirk falls generally towards the south-east at about 10.4 m per km (roughly 1 in 96). The lowest tenth of the ground lies mostly to the north-east, and the highest tenth lies mostly to the north-west.
About 12.6% of the 10 m samples are flatter than 1 in 40, while one in ten is steeper than 17°.
On SEPA's flood maps (medium likelihood), 16.1% of the Selkirk extent is inside the river flood extent, 6.9% 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 158 listed building records in the extent (5 category A, 39 category B, 114 category C), and 5 scheduled monuments, 1 conservation area and 2 inventory gardens and designed landscapes 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 Selkirk extent is within the Coal Authority's Development High Risk Area.
Nearest towns with pages here: Galashiels, 7.8 km north, median ground about 12 m higher; Melrose, 9.4 km north-east, median ground about 24 m lower; Hawick, 13.8 km south, median ground about 4 m lower; Innerleithen, 16.1 km north-west, median ground about 8 m higher.
Sampled every 10 m, the typical slope is 7°, and 60.2% 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 | 10.51 km² (OS Open Names extent, at most 6 km across) |
|---|---|
| LiDAR coverage | 92.3% |
| Best survey | LiDAR for Scotland Phase 4, flown 2020, 0.5 m grid (92.0%); typical ±0.12 m |
| Also used | LiDAR for Scotland Phase 3, flown 2015–2019, 0.5 m grid (0.2%); typical ±0.14 m |
| Ground levels | mostly 110.2–263.7 m AOD (2nd–98th percentile), median 165.6 m |
| Slope (10 m sample) | median 7.0°, 90th percentile 17.0°, 60.2% steeper than 1 in 10 |
| Overall fall | towards the south-east, about 10.4 m per km |
| SEPA flood maps (medium likelihood) | river 16.1%, surface water 6.9%, coastal 0.0% of the extent (awareness only, not a flood risk assessment) |
| HES records in extent | 158 listed buildings (A 5, B 39, C 114), 5 scheduled monuments, 1 conservation areas, 2 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 · Melrose · Hawick · Innerleithen
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.