Bad choice

It takes a special kind of woman to announce the closure of a holiday home for cancer stricken children and then announce to the world - “I can live with myself”.

Considering the delicate subject matter, the boss of under- fire charity CLIC Sargent made a bad choice of words.

And Kate Lee is already finding out she made another bad choice when selecting Prestwick’s Malcolm Sargent House as a disposable asset.

The groundswell of opposition is already off the scale. A petition of 10,000 signatures, from Members of Parliament to members of the public, was raised in the first week alone.

But I’d now like to see some of our local councillors put their own special pressure on CLIC.

It would be interesting if one - or 20 - of them were to raise the issue of “change of use” if the Malcom Sargent site went on the market. A considered, collective opinion that the Prestwick property would struggle to get permission to be anything other than a charitable holiday home for children would throw a giant spanner into CLIC’s commercial cogwheels.

I’ve no doubt Ms Lee saw a prime seaside asset during her visit seven weeks ago - a site that potential developers would find more than attractive. However, it would take a developer with a very long bargepole to consider a seven figure investment in a property that came with more hurdles than Ayr Racecourse.

Oh, and if someone from CLIC can pop over to my pub with another collection box, I’d be grateful. The one I’ve got is full already!