Ayr's new Riverside flats to cost £1m more with fewer homes

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Ayr’s new Riverside Flats will cost more than million pounds more than originally agreed, despite the number of homes being cut from 90 to 75 units.The Riverside Place project is now expected to cost £17.28m compared to the £16.2m allocated in 2019.The controversial plan to demolish the iconic buildings was opposed by many of residents, but was eventually agreed by South Ayrshire Council.However, legal battles over the telecommunications mast erected on one of the blocks meant that the only two of them have been demolished.Efforts to come to an agreement between mobile phone giant EE and the council to remove the mast in return for financial compensation had appeared to be heading towards resolution.But these talks stalled and the council was left with the headache of building much needed affordable housing around the remaining block.The resulting proposal sees two new blocks built at the Riverside site, while the third is on hold until the contract between the council and EE expires.And the council will still be borrowing less than it had planned for the 90 unit development.It was looking at borrowing £10.89m for the previous proposal, with the Scottish Government making up the remaining £5.31m.Now, the council will borrow £9.18m.

The contribution from the Scottish Government has increased by £1.42m, from £5.31m to £6.736m, as a result of a number of ‘enhancements’.These includeThe council will also utilise £1.18m of unallocated funds from second home council tax income and £183k in commuted funds.The report to full council on Friday stated: “Although the number of units has been reduced from 90 to 75, due to the retention of one of the Riverside tower blocks, the costs have increased due to high levels of construction