Pledge to demolish Ayr's Station Hotel unless owner enters talks as South Ayrshire Council's new leader issues warning

dailyrecord.co.uk:

South Ayrshire's new council leader has pledged to demolish Ayr's Station Hotel — if he can't get the building's owner round the negotiating table.In his latest post-election declaration, Martin Dowey says he is prepared to deal with the saga "once and for all".

And he has warned the crumbling hotel's owner he has six months to finally engage — before the new look council takes matters into its own hands.Dowey, voted in to lead a Conservative minority last week, told Ayrshire Live: "The town cannot live with the problem any longer."My ideal scenario would be to see the building revamped but the reality is that the hotel is holding back any investment Network Rail may want to make in the railway station at present."Ayr is the fourth busiest railway station in Scotland — but you wouldn't know it to look at."It should be an asset to this town and yet people flood off the platforms to see that as their welcome to Ayr."So we need to deal with this once and for all and we will do so."Council chiefs have been shelling out £60,000 per month on protective scaffolding since they assumed control under a Dangerous Building Notice in 2018.But they have been unable to track down the hotel's Malaysian owner, Eng Huat Ung, for talks to break the deadlock ever since.Speaking to the Ayrshire Post earlier this month, Mr Ung's legal team said he was willing to find a "final solution".Both sides have so far been unable to enter dialogue on building costs to the council which have topped £1 million since 2018.New council leader Dowey added: "We've put a very expensive tarpaulin over the building and just left it there.