AYR STATION HOTEL COMMUNITY ACTION GROUP
PUBLIC MEETING Monday 25 November 2019 at 7.30 (Doors open 7.00) in Ayr Town Hall
AGENDA
1. Welcome from Brian McGinley Deputy Council Leader, South Ayrshire Council, who will introduce the Chair.
2. Chair for the evening is Malcolm Warr OBE, an international expert on infrastructure and restoration who is based locally. He has kindly agreed to oversee the speakers' contributions and to lead an open discussion where the community having heard what a leading conservationist and some key political figures think, can question them and put forward their opinions on what should happen in their local town.
3. Una Richards, CEO of the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust which has rescued thirty odd buildings mostly pretty large ones, and mostly in the East of Scotland, will tell us what she thinks about the value of Ayr Station Hotel, what she feels about the Structural Engineers' Report and the way forward. This could mean looking at what the town needs and what can the Hotel provide that would "wash its face" and make it viable. She might say why the government should spend roughly the same on the old as it would have to on the new.
4. There are three speakers from the political scene, Jamie Greene MSP Conservative Shadow Transport Minister, Colin Smyth, List MSP for this area & Labour Transport Spokesperson, plus Allan Dorans, a former local councillor who is the aspiring SNP candidate for the UK general election.
They each will have a brief opportunity to give an opinion on what should be done for the Ayr Station Hotel and for other sites in general. This could be protective action at UK or Scottish legislative level for our visual heritage or for the environment, or action by councils like perhaps have a green audit in Planning Applications.
(There will be folks from the Green Party in the audience they were but not able to send a speaker. We invited NetworkRail but they declined.)
5. A Question Time Panel will follow, being made up of the Chair, Una Richards, Colin Smyth, Allan Dorans and Jamie Greene. Written questions and/or opinions will be taken first and then oral questions and/or opinions with open discussion about what the community wants to happen to the Ayr Station Hotel.
6. Closing comments and thanks to the contributors. We are very lucky to have such distinguished people willing to become involved in this venture.
Collection for hire of Town Hall.