East Ayrshire Council has agreed to allocate funding of £60,000 from their Town Centre Regeneration Fund to help New Cumnock Development Trust (NCDT) realise their overall vision of buying the former Castle Hotel.

NCDT aims to turn this dilapidated building into a community-owned facility and is currently carrying out a feasibility study to assess whether it could potentially be used as budget visitor accommodation. This idea is one of the community's suggestions to regenerate New Cumnock, as detailed in the New Cumnock Regeneration Masterplan.

One small section of the building belonged to a third party, so when the opportunity arose to buy this section, confirmation of the funding from the Council allowed NCDT to conclude a swift purchase from the previous owner.

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Having ownership of the whole building will give NCDT a significant opportunity to improve the overall appearance of the building and the social and economic opportunities presented by this project.

Councillor Jim Roberts, Cabinet Member for Economy and Infrastructure said: "This is a great project that the Council is delighted to help fund through the Town Centre Regeneration Fund. There is obviously still a lot of work to do in terms of planning and construction but it is hoped that the project can be progressed as quickly as possible to build on the momentum of improvements in the town centre over the past few years which are making a real difference to the community."

Sheena Boyd, Business and Development Manager for New Cumnock Development Trust, added: "This funding will make such a difference to the project and will help us fast-forward to the next stage. All trustees and staff would like to thank local councillors and East Ayrshire Council staff for their help in making this an even better project."

(MH/JG)