A local group committee has been formed with the purpose of scrutinising the councils plans for the redevelopment of the Citadel.

Cllr Bob Shields for Ayr West chaired a meeting in November, which was well attended, by 14 of the regulars at the Citadels Sauna, concerning the Councils plans for redeveloping and relocating the current Sauna in the upstairs of the building- the rationale being that it will be closer to the pool.

An official council consultation on the plans took place on the 21st August, however users of the sauna complained about a lack of transparency.

“Why wasn’t the event advertised with posters in the sauna or throughout the Citadel, they wanted as few people to come along as possible, they wanted a rubber stamp”

Members also lambasted the plans as a downgrade. One of them pointed out to me that the current number of attendees at the meeting would exceed the limit for the new steam room, which would be limited to a capacity of 12.

Members voiced an array of concerns about the management of the current sauna, one of which pertained the safety, with rotting wood being a problem within the sauna causing the facility to close for a number of days after a customer put their foot through a plank of wood causing it to collapse.

“You could see it was corroded, you could see it was collapsing why was nothing done ?”, one man asked.

Another chimed in “And we’re all feared to report something, because it takes them so long to fix it, we’re else can we go ?”

Additionally, users of the Sauna lamented the fact that the sauna is often seen as an extra, with the steam room frequently turned off with little explanation- at the time of this writing the steam room has reportedly been off for 2 months.

In response to a number of inquiries regarding details for the new development, Cllr Bob Shields confirmed that the council has no idea of:

A. how much the redevelopment will cost

B. when the development will begin

C. if the current sauna will be closed before or after the development of said sauna begins

Cllr Sheilds read out the statement provided to him by the council which stated

” further details regarding specific time will be announced as and when these are confirmed by the contractors, however the indication is that the sauna will be subject to closure before the new facilities are open”

In response to this reply, Cllr Shields stated “the council should be telling the contractors when they want it, not the other way around !”.

Under new plans shared by the Councilor, it was confirmed that the new development would retain the Sauna and Steam room, however the latter would have less capacity. Unlike at present though, there would be no cold plunge or hot tub. The council contends that the swimming pool adjacent to the new development and a new planned Bucket Shower can be used as a substitute.

Cllr Shields confirmed a meeting would be set up with management at the county buildings, with an envoy of ‘three or four’ concerned users accompanying the councilor to voice their concerns.

The meeting is said to be scheduled in the coming weeks.