It was the late, great Meat Loaf who famously urged us to consider that ‘two out of three ain’t bad’.
I loved his ‘Bat out of Hell’ album . .. but I can’t agree with him on this one. When it comes to Ayr’s Riverside ‘High Flats’, the demolition of just two out of three ain’t good . . . it’s an embarrassment and a disgrace.
South Ayrshire Council is now being virtually held to ransom by a telecom company called EE over the ‘twin tower’ telephone masts on the roof of the last remaining block of high flats. How ironically apt that ‘EE’ stands for ‘Everything Everywhere’.
For just about everything, everywhere has gone wrong with the ‘high flats’ project since some fool, somewhere, at some time, came up with the bright idea of knocking them down!
The story so far? The previous SNP/Labour administration called time on the ‘high flats’ years ago – with no real basis for doing so.
Post Grenfell, tower blocks were making many local authorities very nervous. SAC’s unjustifiable reaction – knock them down at any cost – shows they must have been soiling themselves.
The residents wanted to keep them, the public wanted to keep them and experts in the building industry put up an incontrovertible case that keeping them was the sensible option.
This page argued their case for several years. Where was the logic in spending £3 million to knock them down and £20 million to build 90 new flats - when virtually the same money could have given the 234 existing flats another 30 or 40 years?
But no. Messrs McGinley, Henderson, Saxton and co had added the assumption of infallibility to their portfolios - and they were hell bent on the flats’ destruction.
In their rush to get the bulldozers in before a new administration could change their plans – the small print around what exactly they were about to bulldoze got lost in the stampede.
That small print included two telecommunication masts with legally binding contracts to be there until 2025 – at least.
Did someone says ‘Ooops’?
I hope not – because ‘Ooops’ doesn’t come even close.
The US military in Vietnam invented a vulgar word to perfectly sum up a singular blunder with multiple disastrous consequences – that word was ‘cluster**ck’.
And that’s exactly what we have here.
To date, the demolition company has already had to change its plans for the orderly flattening of the blocks. The ‘first’ to come down is now . . er . . . still standing!
The remaining block will now require a sealed-off safety zone – I believe it will be a 30-metre perimeter. And that will mean a delay - and probably alterations - to the planning and building of the 90 new replacement flats.
The word is that the re-designed development could be cut back by 10 per cent to 20 per cent - 10 or 15 fewer homes!
Adding to the cluster is that all of the above, the more to come - and the more to come we don’t even know about yet – will be costing SAC hundreds of thousands of wasted pounds.
Just what the total bill for the entire ‘High Flats’ disaster might be – including fees, compensation, re-location, demolition, re-design and new build - is anybody’s guess.
But it will be a high price to pay for a concrete stump of 78 empty flats and maybe 75 new ones.
There are rumours that the remaining block might be refurbished with some Holyrood help – and the rumours include the word ‘Ukrainians’. I’d love that.
It would really help some people who really need our help.
And, it would prove that the argument to save the ‘high flats’ - and refurbish them - was the sane choice all along. One of my duties as an elected member is to chair the Service and Performance Panel.
In this sorry mess, a section of SAC hasn’t delivered the level of service expected – and has woefully underperformed. Those scrutinising the decision making fall into the same category.
If this fell to my agenda, I’d be calling for a paper trail of the words “EE”, “Riverside Place” and “telecommunication masts” - going back to the beginning of time.
But somehow, I’ve a feeling a very angry Leader of the Council,
Martin Dowey, and a very red-faced Chief Executive, Eileen Howat, are going to beat me to it!
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