A report on the creation of a social enterprise cafe turned into a heated debate about the stigma of mental health issues and the 'appropriate' place to support people.
The venture was proposed by Kilmarnock Station Railway Heritage Trust. They want to turn the Old Men's Cabin in Howard Park into a cafe along with mental wellbeing services on the premises.
East Ayrshire Council's cabinet heard that the proposal had attracted a significant number of objections.
But the council said that many of these were a result of misinformation and false claims made by an individual or group under the title of 'Friends of Howard Park'.
And the officials recommended that the trust be granted a 25 year lease after weighing up the nature of the objections with the significant community benefit they say the venture will bring.
The majority of the SNP led cabinet backed the plan, on the basis that the service be confined to low to moderate 'mental wellbeing issues'.
However, Labour and Conservative group leaders, councillors Maureen McKay and John McFadzean, both refused to back the plan, indicating that they were speaking on behalf of both groups.
Councillor McFadzean suggested that a number of residents had contacted local councillor James Adams. He later claimed that the site was wrong and that somewhere more 'discrete' would be more appropriate.
Cllr Mackay also suggested that the Labour group considered the site to be wrong location given the concerns of some residents.
However, it was unclear whether this included the concerns based on the misinformation provided to residents,
In an unusually strong worded report into a consultation, community asset transfer officer Craig Fulton described how the plans had been subject to significant 'misinformation' from a local campaign.
Among the claims the council highlighted as being inaccurate were that the cabin would be used to rehabilitate prisoners, treat those with critical addiction issues, that the buildings renovated by the trust in the railway station were 'mostly vacant' and that the decision had already been made.
In the report, Mr Fulton pointed out that the majority of objections had been made on the perception that "the introduction of mental wellbeing supports within the park would make the area a less safe place for residents."
A third of these objections directly referenced the 'false claims' distributed to residents.
He added that many of the objections were based on the idea that those with mental wellbeing issues are dangerous, which 'is a common stigma which people with mental health issues often face'.
The objections continued despite the misinformation being addressed during the consultation, he said.
Councillor Jim McMahon, the council's spokesperson for mental health, compared the proposal to a community in his Cumnock ward who had embraced a plan to extend their community centre mental health services.
He added that he felt the Howard Park site was 'perfect place to deal with the expansion of mental health [support] in East Ayrshire' taking into account recent moves by some GPs to 'prescribe walks for mental health'.
"Any expansion to deal with mental health issues is always welcome. It is difficult to deal with misinformation when it is out there. But I have no concerns whatsoever that this is not the right way forward."
The Cabinet voted 7 to 4 in favour of the asset transfer.
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