Ayr is open for business! Council to provide a range of support to drive footfall to Ayr town centre during festive season
There's nothing better than some festive music to help you get into the spirit of the season while you're in town doing a bit of Christmas shopping. So, make your way to The Grain Exchange and enjoy listening to some local choirs perform some Christmas classics and favourite yuletide hits.
All this on top of the Festive Family Fun Day on Sunday 19 November, with its Christmas market, Santa Express Train, dance extravaganza and much more - there's a lot to look forward to!
From Sunday 19 November there's also the added bonus of all day, unlimited free on street parking in and around Ayr town centre and in Council car parks. This free parking will be available every day until Monday 8 January 2024.
With the essential safety works continuing at the Station Hotel building, resulting in the temporary closure of Ayr Train Station and Station Bridge Road, we're creating a programme that will support eligible businesses in the immediate area.
Officers from our Economy and Regeneration team will soon contact all of the businesses that fall into the criteria directly, to talk about the additional business support that's available to them.
Leader of South Ayrshire Council, Councillor Martin Dowey, said: "Ensuring public safety is at the forefront of our concerns. This means that temporary road closures at Ayr Train Station and Station Bridge Road are essential to keep everyone safe during the ongoing safety works. A key objective is to get both rail and road transport moving again as soon as possible, however, with the closures expected to last until around 10th January, I want local retailers to know that the Council is here to support them. Our extended range of festive activities is just what the town centre needs ahead of Christmas. Plus, we'll soon be launching our promotional campaign so that everyone knows Ayr is open and ready to welcome their custom! We've also been working hard behind the scenes on specific business support grants for shops and businesses in the immediate area of the closures that are severely impacted."
There's nothing better than some festive music to help you get into the spirit of the season while you're in town doing a bit of Christmas shopping. So, make your way to The Grain Exchange and enjoy listening to some local choirs perform some Christmas classics and favourite yuletide hits.
All this on top of the Festive Family Fun Day on Sunday 19 November, with its Christmas market, Santa Express Train, dance extravaganza and much more - there's a lot to look forward to!
From Sunday 19 November there's also the added bonus of all day, unlimited free on street parking in and around Ayr town centre and in Council car parks. This free parking will be available every day until Monday 8 January 2024.
With the essential safety works continuing at the Station Hotel building, resulting in the temporary closure of Ayr Train Station and Station Bridge Road, we're creating a programme that will support eligible businesses in the immediate area.
Officers from our Economy and Regeneration team will soon contact all of the businesses that fall into the criteria directly, to talk about the additional business support that's available to them.
Leader of South Ayrshire Council, Councillor Martin Dowey, said: "Ensuring public safety is at the forefront of our concerns. This means that temporary road closures at Ayr Train Station and Station Bridge Road are essential to keep everyone safe during the ongoing safety works. A key objective is to get both rail and road transport moving again as soon as possible, however, with the closures expected to last until around 10th January, I want local retailers to know that the Council is here to support them. Our extended range of festive activities is just what the town centre needs ahead of Christmas. Plus, we'll soon be launching our promotional campaign so that everyone knows Ayr is open and ready to welcome their custom! We've also been working hard behind the scenes on specific business support grants for shops and businesses in the immediate area of the closures that are severely impacted."
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NewsTranscript
00:00 I'm Councillor Martin Dowie, I'm leader of South Ayrshire Council.
00:11 A positive message coming out, or a tragedy basically, you know the station hotel has
00:16 been long running sore if you want to put it that way in South Ayrshire on my finances
00:22 and on the top of the town.
00:25 We need an integrated transport hub, there's been a fire now that you saw the drone footage
00:33 in my opinion and in a council for the politics side there's no saving the south wing, the
00:38 south wing needs to come down.
00:41 Again we've got to act within the legal constraints that we are, section 29 of the dangerous building
00:47 act allows us to do everything up to demolition if to make it safe.
00:54 We are concerned about the cable end in the south wing and the two east and west elevations
01:01 that are dangerous so we need to get that sorted but overall it's great news for Transport
01:07 Scotland that they can get things moving with network rail hopefully the 4th of December
01:14 and we'll have at least a diesel train running for there and we'll have at least pedestrians
01:20 going across the station bridge because the town's effectively been cut off by the boat.
01:26 We've got a package there for local businesses and that's been difficult for us to get because
01:31 we've had to find that money, it's revenue that we've had to find.
01:34 You know the Scottish Government Transport Secretary has been very good when it comes
01:37 to the station, station hotel etc but when it comes to compensation we've not had anything
01:43 from the Scottish Government to help us so this money is solely we're own, we know they're
01:47 hurting, you know there's a lot of businesses that are walk in businesses that really have
01:53 had no footfall and we're aware of that so yeah we can give the money to them, we're
01:59 not obliged to but you know it wouldn't be right not to.
02:03 But for the first time ever Council is united, you know the 28 Councillors no matter what
02:09 party they're from are united that one we need the station hotel situation sorted but
02:14 two we need to help our businesses to do it so we've introduced free parking as of Sunday
02:23 that'll run right through until December.
02:26 That's at a cost to the Council as well but we need to show that we're putting our money
02:30 where our mouth is to try and say that the place is open, we're doing some stuff at the
02:34 top of the town to try and get people in at weekends and stuff but people of Ayr need
02:39 to come into Ayr to spend money.
02:42 You know the footfall was just starting to recover because we'd brought in, we'd introduced
02:46 two hours free parking for the town centre and that was going really well until of course
02:52 we got the fire.
02:53 Do you feel that the Scottish Government should be stepping up and helping out?
02:56 Well the Scottish Government should be helping out, you know we had a storm in the North
03:00 East and you know they've come up with a funding package for I think it's £1,500 to £3,000
03:07 and it took a wee while but you know the station hotel is killing the top of the town.
03:14 We're hemorrhaging, it's about £68,000 a month was the encapsulation was costing us,
03:22 the network rail were paying half of that and we paid the rest.
03:27 Now that money, we passed new finances for that again coming out of our revenue budget
03:33 in September passed there so that's now being used on you know making the building safe.
03:43 So it's about £1.5 million that we've been spending on this between our contribution
03:48 and network rail.
03:49 That'll be gone come Christmas so once that's gone we are duty bound to find that money
03:58 as a council.
04:00 So at the last full council we wrote to Patrick Harvie who's the Minister concerned about
04:06 the legislation and the legislation should it be for councils to find money for absentee
04:11 landlords to make buildings safe and in this case this could cost up to six, seven million
04:17 pounds that we would need to find and because we don't own the building it's revenue.
04:23 That's a lot of teachers, that's a lot of cleaners, it's a lot of you know teaching
04:27 assistants and the legislation is quite clear it doesn't matter whether that bankrupts a
04:32 council that we need to make by legislation that building safe.
04:37 So what has to happen, what would you like to see happen?
04:40 Well we need a, so nationally there should be a ruling that it comes out of government
04:45 strategic reserve if you know we need better laws to pursue absentee landlords because
04:52 that's taking forever.
04:54 You know Mr Ong's getting pursued in at least three courts around the world, how long that'll
05:00 take you know goodness knows.
05:02 That building has been hemorrhaging money for years now and as soon as it becomes dangerous
05:06 which it is now we're liable for the bills and it's okay at First Minister's questions
05:12 you know the First Minister was asked about it on Thursday there and I think the only
05:18 response was the firemen did a great job which they did but the firemen aren't going to give
05:24 the cafes on Smith Street you know any money, it's the Scottish Government that needs to
05:28 do that.
05:29 I saw some drone footage of the inside of the hotel and it's in a terrible state, you
05:36 know my ill-entertained eye it looks like it'll be coming down.
05:39 I would agree with you yeah.
05:41 Would you like it to come down?
05:42 It needs to come down, it needs to come down, the southern wing needs to come down.
05:46 So the transport hub that we're looking at, so we as a council, so that's the political
05:52 will of the council in September we passed that at council unanimously that we would
05:58 like the station hotel down.
06:01 We gave 18 months, as I became leader 18 months ago I have met with all groups, SAVE and other
06:09 groups who want to save it, they were told time is running out, you need a plan, you
06:14 need money and you need a business plan.
06:17 The only plan they've got is the council's going to pay for it.
06:20 The council cannot pay towards doing up a building that we don't own and I've been very
06:26 clear with everybody, would I have loved to have saved the building?
06:30 Yes.
06:31 We've got a 20 million pound package that we're going to put in and we're not going
06:36 to allow the station hotel to hold that back and it's okay for SAVE and people who are,
06:41 you know don't stay in the town to save but you need to save it.
06:45 If they want to save it they've had the opportunity, the fire has accelerated the process here.
06:53 So what everybody, and public opinion's changed, you know when I first became a councillor
06:56 in 2017 if you'd have said you wanted to get rid of the station hotel you'd have been effectively
07:02 lynched in the street.
07:04 Totally changed now, there's very very few people wanting to, if you look at the social
07:09 media everybody wants it away.
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