Civic Theatre demolition is needless, says councillor

Jan 1 2010 by Stuart Wilson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

BULLDOZING the Civic Theatre is an expensive waste of money.

That’s the view of one councillor, who reckons his colleagues have made a costly blunder.

Labour’s Phil Saxton, who made a last ditch bid to save the historic theatre, is upset at the £100,000 demolition.

Mr Saxton’s motion to postpone the decision was roundly voted down at a full meeting of South Ayrshire Council.

And now the theatre will be bulldozed in 2010 – without any concrete plan for the land.

Mr Saxton insisted: “We can’t just knock down buildings for the sake of it.

“The council wants to save money – then it agrees to spend £100,000 demolishing a building with no use for the land.

“If there isn’t a plan for the site, why can’t we sell the building at no cost to the council?”

The land is likely to be used for an extended roundabout to help with access to Craigie’s new university campus.

But no decision has been made and a further £18,000 will be spent on landscaping the site before anything happens.

That has further angered Mr Saxton and fellow defenders of the Civic cause.

He said: “If money is tight then let’s take decisions based purely on the facts.

“We can’t go about demolishing buildings without fully exploring the options available to us.

“In this instance, we could have held off or at least sold the building to an outside purchaser for future use.”

Mr Saxton’s words follow the meeting which saw some councillors speak of their “delight” at the demolition.