"It's garish, overlarge and totally inappropriate," said Ian King, the community council's planning spokesman.

On Monday, he said he had checked the conditions which were imposed by Scottish Borders Council when Scotbet (formerly Morrison's) was granted consent for the signage in January.

He said agents for Scotland's largest independent bookmaker had submitted a revised design after being informed by SBC planning officer Hamish Bell there was much local disquet about the style and impact of what had been originally proposed.

"Although the community council objected strongly to a betting shop in such a prominent position as the former post office in the historic square, we lost that battle.

"But it appeared our views on the signage had been taken on board with the revised style which was more discrete, with small individual lettering."

Carolyn Riddell-Carre, who represents Selkirkshire on SBC, told the meeting she would pursue the matter with the planning department's enforcement officer.

"This looks like a blatant breach of planning conditions and, as such, the sign should be taken down and replaced with something more appropriate," said Mr King.

"One recent visitor to Selkirk said: 'It's a pity about the betting shop in Market Place: it lowers the whole tone of the town'.

"It is hard to disagree with that assessment and the reality confirms the fears we expressed last year when we opposed the application."

Even Jim Gibson, the only community councillor to support the move, said on Monday he believed the sign was unacceptable.

The Wee Paper was unable to contact Scotbet yesterday, but an SBC source told us: "It appears that, some time after January, the firm sought a further amendment to its revised proposals and this was agreed by Mr Bell, who is no longer with SBC. If that's the case, nothing can be done."