I wrote in December to Siobhian Brown MSP and she wrote and got a reply from the relevant Minister in Holyrood. I was asking about the Ayr Station Hotel in the event of the SAVE initiative not being productive in engaging the cooperation of both NetworkRail and South Ayrshire Council in agreeing to smooth the way for the conservation and redevelopment of the whole original complex. The SAVE plan would involve a local Preservation Trust which is the best option because SAVE I believe, would be involved for oversight and advice. They have done so much work on their Report last May (on our website then). They involved an Ayr born Architect and Edinburgh surveyors as well as an eminent Ayrshire man who is a Trustee of a number of Heritage and art bodies when they produced the SAVE Report and others. I could pass on all the Action Group contacts to them. It could be any existing fully constituted Trust. Ayr Development Trust (ADT) is fully constituted but the Ayr Station Hotel Action Group is only a Pressure Group as we did not plan to raise any money.The situation is complex but as A LAST RESORT, I was wondering in December if ADT could help the Station Hotel. I asked our Ayr MSP to write to the minister responsible for Regeneration. This response refers to Prestwick instead of Ayr. In fact the 2015 legislation shows that the ADT Community of KA7/1 is very near to the Station/Hotel and has a legitimate interest which it could easily establish. This confirms the legal position.
Officially SAC is applying for demolition of the South Wing only, at £6.6m I believe. They are paying for the scaffolding in three monthly instalments at £67k a month and it will take 18 months to get legal authority to demolish. If an alternative fully costed plan comes up from any source SAC will look at it. As £6.6m is the cost of almost 100 months (8 years) of scaffolding which is very expensive, they should have said this long ago. I must say the new SAC Assistant Chief Executive Mike Newall seems much more pro-active and amenable or perhaps he can do sums. I think that he will cooperate, which is necessary for any council when conservation is required.
Kind regards,
Esther.
Chair/Secretary Action Group.
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