TWENTY YEARS AGO

Saturday 5 October, 1996

Final decision

Exactly two years ago The Banner announced, under the headline ‘Housing Revolution’, Ms Celia Urquhart’s plans for the housing development known as Charters Towers.

Since then the issue has been ongoing and with strong feelings from many, both for and against the development, the issue culminated in a public inquiry last August. Last Thursday it became known that Ms Urquhart had lost her appeal to the Secretary of State for Scotland and that the final chance for her to proceed with the development at the Cora Lynn site had failed.

The final paragraph of a letter received from her solicitors read: ‘I hereby dismiss this appeal and refuse to grant planning permission for the application to which it relates.’ So the matter is now closed, or is it?

The penultimate paragraph reads: ‘The foregoing decision is final, subject to any aggrieved person to apply to the Court of Session within six weeks.’

Bus contract award

Stagecoach bus services will remain unchanged after it was awarded the 12-month contract to provide the school bus services on Arran. This concludes the possibility of Stagecoach leaving the island if it did not receive the contract after Strathclyde Passenger Transport invited other companies to tender for the service.

The original Stagecoach tender had shown increases of 30-35 per cent over current costs and North Ayrshire Council felt that the increases were too much. After the NAC strategy committee met last month they accepted that costs had increased and that the previous tender may have been kept artificially low to gain the contract and recognising the service was good, they awarded the contract.

Additional sailings

The winter ferry timetable is now available and starting from October 13 there are a few additions. One is a 11.05am sailing from Brodick and a 12.30pm from Ardrossan on Wednesdays. This makes four return sailings on Wednesdays and three on other weekdays. Two sailings on a Saturday and Sunday and as an added bonus, additional sailings will start earlier next spring in mid February instead of early March.

B40twe02 Stuart Gough was the judge at the Kilmory fete last week where he had to select a winner from, left to right, Tin Man, Sam Hemmings and Mickey and Minnie, Hannah McLellan and Fiona Patrick. The young junior chef is Rachel Mulholland.

B40twe04 Community firefighters Tom Stewart and Tony Kane have been spending this week visiting primary schools to alert children to the dangers of fire. Pictured are two pupils from each class at Brodick Primary School.

B40twe05 Joan McLellan and Laura Turner, kite designers from Kilmory Primary School, have entered the North Ayrshire Schools Saturday Kite Fever competition that takes place in Ardrossan this weekend.

B40twe01 Audrey McArthur with actor James Bolam in front of her house Ivybank, or Harbour View as it has been renamed for the film The Missing Postman.

B40twe03 Eleanor Muirhead (right) won the Ladies Singles Challenge Cup last week at Lamlash. She is pictured being congratulated by runner up Sally Brookes. The cup was first presented in 1912 and was played for each year until 1930. It has only been presented...