Dear Station Hotel supporter,
I hope you are keeping safe and well in these difficult times.
The campaign for the Station Hotel continues. NetworkRail is pushing for a new Glass & Steel Station. If the Scottish Government agrees then that will happen. We will have a glorified glasshouse station and the government will not have the money to help with the Hotel. We can watch the crumbling former "Castle in Ayr" as it was described, crumble and then it will be demolished.
This is a political decision. It would be better and cheaper in the long run to conserve and redevelop the Ayr Station Hotel, probably for a number of purposes. The feasibility study should consider what would be best for Ayr, what people wanted and what was economically viable.
It probably would cost about the same as a new station plus demolition of the old, circa £25m. However, the new station will last around 25 years while a restored and redeveloped Station Hotel could last over a hundred years. Anyway, we have been pushing the decision makers and will continue.
At the moment there is a Scottish Government Task Force which agreed that a Feasibility Study was necessary. South Ayrshire has commissioned this and it is ongoing now. It did not include in its remit the Conservation of the Hotel nor Environmental & Health concerns like use of resources, pollution due to demolition etc. We have tried to have these included but who knows?
If we get any further indication that the station is threatened, it may be too late. It would be useful to lobby all political parties and perhaps you might contact our MP, MSPs and the Ministers like Michael Matheson, Transport Minister at Holyrood or any others that you can think of who might have some political clout. We shall be doing the same. The matter is on the table for discussion at a high level.
Best wishes,
Esther.