The Kilmarnock's Heritage Railway Trust (KHRT) has been granted a lease at the Old Man's Cabin in Howard Park for 25 years.
The KHRT, which was initially formed in 2014 to bring a number of redundant railway offices and rooms into community use, proposed to turn the Old Man's Cabin into a social enterprise cafe to increase the services on offer within the area as well as provide employment opportunities for those affected by mental wellbeing.
The Old Man's Cabin sits on the raised section of the park next to Mews Lane and was originally intended as a place for veterans to meet. Before falling into disrepair, the facility was used as changing rooms for football teams when the park still had a full-size pitch.
The charity wants to bring the old building back to life and focus on delivering counselling services to help people manage stress, anxiety and loneliness.
Leader of East Ayrshire Council, Douglas Reid, and Councillor Lillian Jones, chair of the Governance and Scrutiny Committee, shared a joint statement saying: "The KHRT have established a positive and reliable reputation within the town, having successfully run their current operations at the train station without any cause for concern.
"Therefore, as Cabinet and Governance and Scrutiny Committees we are satisfied that the proposal to transfer the facility and the establishment of a café and provision of counselling services will bring significant benefits for the local community. This facility will help more people who are currently on a lengthy NHS waiting list, giving them the chance to access support services sooner rather than later."
There were a substantial number of objections submitted in relation to this proposal, many of which related to misinformation that had been circulated around communities.
The KHRT worked in partnership with East Ayrshire Council to produce a response to the representations received and a meeting was also held last April so that any concerns could be addressed.
Cllr Reid and Cllr Jones added: "Whilst there was no failure in procedure, we recognise that this process has not gone as smoothly as we would all have hoped and acknowledge that many residents felt that their concerns had not been heard, particularly in relation to the information published on a third-party website not affiliated to East Ayrshire Council.
"We were disappointed that attempts by the applicant and our Vibrant Communities colleagues to convey that this information was incorrect and to reassure residents of their concerns did not resonate with the community and this regrettably led to misunderstanding between parties in relation to the proposals for use of the facilities.
"However, we will learn from this experience and we are taking steps refresh our relationship with the Howard Park community to set the record straight regarding the Community Asset Transfer for the Old People’s Cabin.
"Moving forward, we have asked our Vibrant Communities Team to provide regular, clear and accurate information to ensure that local residents are kept fully updated on the transfer process as it progresses."
To provide added assurance to the community, conditions will be included within the lease to ensure that the future of the premises remain in accordance with what has been agreed and in particular, that the proposed counselling provision would be for those with low to moderate mental health and wellbeing issues.
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