A COMMUNITY group has notified South Ayrshire Council of their intention to apply to purchase Ayr Train Station under the community right to buy scheme.

Ayr Station Hotel & Burns Statue Square Community Action Group want to take over the station from Network Rail, under whose tenure they believe, structures at the station, a B listed building, have deteriorated to an unacceptable level.

They plan to upgrade the existing station and build new facilities such as comfortable waiting rooms, accessible toilets for disabled and able bodied people, as well as a cafe with a newspaper stand. They say improvement works should have been done 25 years ago.

Under their proposals the community of Ayr will own the station and will rent it to Scotrail. Network Rail would still be responsible for the tracks, electrics, signalling, and platforms. David Ramsay, chair of the group fears continued neglect will leave Network Rail with no option but to demolish the station and thus build something new at considerable cost to the taxpayer.

He predicts the cost of a new station to be around £25million, whereas the upgrade and refurbishment being proposed by the group would cost just £4.5million.

The feasibility study commissioned by South Ayrshire Council conducted on the Station Hotel and its surroundings, published earlier this year, favours partial or full demolition of the building and the creation of a new station with space for retail units, something David says will take custom away from businesses outside the station.

David said: “Our objective is to save our Victorian train station and its cast iron canopy and stair, which are both B listed, as well as the East Wing, there are three B listed components in relation to Ayr Train Station. Network Rail is of a mind to demolish it, they want to build a concrete and glass station...

“Their business model is to expand on retail, they’re reinventing themselves along the airport model.”