Ghost tower in Ayr could house Ukraine war refugees as South Ayrshire Council apply for Scottish Government help

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Ukrainian war refugees could be housed in the ghost tower left behind at Ayr's Riverside flats, the Ayrshire Post can reveal.Bosses at South Ayrshire Council are to go cap in hand to the Scottish Government looking for money to salvage the doomed block.It follows the news that the final skyscraper cannot be demolished due to a blunder by officials at County Buildings.Telecoms giant EE own masts at the top of the tower with a contract for them to remain in place until at least 2025.Officials are now scrambling to put the block back into use with the help of Holyrood cash - and admit it could stay put for up to 40 YEARS.Architects have redrawn plans for social housing due to replace the flats, whose demolition was approved last January.A scaled down version of the project will see 75 houses built in the shadow of the remaining tower - instead of the 96 originally planned.Council chiefs are set to meet with the Government next week in a bid to bag money from the Ukraine Resettlement Fund, which it is hoped could breathe new life into the remaining tower.South Ayrshire leader, Martin Dowey, this week claimed his administration has been left to "clear up a mess of the council's own doing".He told Ayrshire Live: "When we came into office last year, we inherited a situation at the Riverside flats that we never agreed with - and we always made that position very clear."But the decision taken to demolish those flats was democracy and that was fair enough."What's become clear is that due dilligence wasn't done at that time over these phone masts."Somebody in the council has signed a contract to approve demolition fully knowing the situation and the problems we would encounter later down the road."That has now left us to clear up a