A review of the Feasibility Study made on the former Station Hotel says demolition has been favoured where retaining the entire building would be cheaper.

Author of the review, Dave Ramsay, disputes the costings given to the refurbishment of the building and says it would be cheaper to repair than to demolish it.

He said: "My approach is to analyse and dissect fact to uncover the truth then communicate my findings holding parties to account for this disgraceful situation."

Esther Clark of Save the Station Hotel campaign group, said the feasibility study outomes are especially strange given that the council has previously mentioned, in a 2018 report, the need for a new hotel in the town, which they’d have to build from scratch, at considerable cost.

She added: “We need more hotel space and this one’s being left to fall apart.”

The authors of the feasibility study question the evidence this claim is based on. The study, authored by project management company ATKINS on behalf of South Ayrshire Council, Network Rail, Scotrail, and Transport Scotland, was designed to identify potential future options for the historic building.

Dave Ramsay, who grew up in Ayr and is a resident now, says his main focus is on ensuring the continued existence of the building itself, he says what is inside is a commercial decision, and whilst he'd like to see it continue as a hotel, he accepts that any potential future use has to be financially viable.

He also calls for an oversight committee to be established to prevent what has happened to the Station Hotel building happening anywhere else in the future.

The feasibility study was published last month and refurbishment of the building was not listed as a viable option, unless for student accommodation.

The study suggested that the most economically viable options for the former hotel were ones that involved removing the building either completely or partially.

Esther maintains that the community were never properly consulted on the issue, with just two weeks of online consultation offered, and just two days notice given.

She has requested to be involved with the future planning for the building, but says she has been knocked back for every request: “The council said the consultation showed 50 per cent of people want the building demolished but that’s not our view based on who we’ve been speaking too.

“We wanted to be involved throughout to spread the word. I asked if we could be put on the Governance group. They said no but that we’d be fully consulted. They said we were fully consulted, but we weren’t.

“The public consultation was an online survey which they told us of on the Friday that it was starting on the Monday and it would last two weeks. Everything we asked them they said no.”

The review of the feasibility study can be viewed at savethestationhotel.co.uk

Update: This article was amended on 10/03/21 to reflect that the review of the study was not commissioned or requested by the Save the Station Hotel campaign group. The review was conducted by Mr Ramsay independent of the group.