CEVIC campaigners demand fresh answers
Community campaigners in Catrine have launched the second phase of their fight to secure the future of a local building by outlining a series of demands to East Ayrshire Council’s new chief executive Eddie Fraser.
The group - who successfully stopped the new nursery plan at the CEVIC building - are demanding answers on what the proposals are for the building now that it is due to fall into council ownership.
Following a cabinet meeting in December, the council withdrew plans to use the CEVIC for the new nursery and instead opted to refurbish the existing one.
They are pressing ahead to purchase the CEVIC from the cashtroubled CCT but campaigners are opposed to the acquisition. In an email to Mr Fraser, the campaigners said: “Catrine Community have now asked the campaign group to continue on to Stage 2 - Hands off/Facts First - as they want and have the right to know all the facts first before anything happens with any potential acquisition of the
CEVIC building and its associated structures by East Ayrshire Council.”
The campaign group is “seeking to get answers” on what they claim is £4 million of public funding spent in the village since 2006 which turned out to be “abject failures,” “eyesores” and “absolute disasters.” They want a review.
Among the group’s concerns are the CEVIC building’s future, along with the likes of the Catrine Hydroelectric turbine project.
Additional concerns lie with the original iron bridge crossing at River Ayr, derelict sites at Old Mill Inn and Volunteer Arms and worries over the River Ayr pathways and village walk.
The Catrine Community group added: “We are committed to working constructively with the council to find solutions for the issues we’ve highlighted. We really don’t understand how it’s all gone horribly wrong.”
Mr Fraser said a review wasn’t “necessary or appropriate” and revealed that relevant financial information surrounding money spent locally was all “accessible and available.”