Community left in the dark over Town Hall opening up
Confusion has been created around the reopening of a town hall as it aims to bounce back from lockdown.
The doors to Troon’s Concert Hall and Walker Hall remain closed with community leaders left in the dark as to when life can return to “normal”.
Community leaders only learned last week that they would be able to hold their meetings back in the Concert Hall and Walker Hall after the Post raised the subject with council chiefs despite Level 0 restrictions allowing meetings since August 9.
But local councillors are set to review when normality can resume in the coming weeks, as they return from recess.
Troon Community Council were left without notification of the hall being available to book again for their monthly meetings to discuss and raise issues affecting the town.
Stand-in vice-chair Douglas Graham expressed his desire to get back in with members eager to discuss future events including the much-anticipated return of Wintertainment.
But when the Post asked the question to South Ayrshire Council they were told the venue was available for booking.
Mr Graham said: “The community council is looking forward to getting our meetings back on but we never knew we could book them again.
“It has been a long 18 months without being able to sit down and discuss issues in Troon. Some community councils have held online video call meetings but we opted to just wait until we were able to get back in again to the town hall.
“We were told after speaking to the Post that the hall is available for booking again but before that we weren’t notified.
“We have a lot to discuss so we hope to have the first meeting next month after we have filled in a risk assessment form.”
Troon councillor Philip Saxton says town councillors are eager to see the town hall being operated as a customer service centre again.
The Labour politician said: “I have spoken with other Troon councillors and we are going to have a meeting this week to address when we can get face to face customer services back up and running in the town hall.
“We are taking restrictions into consideration, we will have to take some caution when making these decisions.
“Things need to be put in place, but one thing is for sure we just want to be back to as close to normal as possible.”
A spokesperson for South Ayrshire Council said: “We are looking at how and where we’ll deliver some of our face to face services going forward and will consult with the public on any proposed changes.”
He added: “Troon Concert and Walker Hall is open and available for community council meetings.”
We were told after speaking to the Post that the hall is available for booking again.”