COUNCIL chiefs have scrapped plans for a £6million disability day centre in Stevenston after bidding to buy Red Cross House.

The Times can exclusively reveal that North Ayrshire Council’s plans to build a state-of-the art centre for people with disabilities on the land between Auchenharvie Academy and the Auchenharvie Leisure Centre have been binned - with Red Cross House drafted in as a replacement centre.

Despite Stevenston losing out on a new facility, council bosses say if their bid to buy the former Options for Independence centre in Irvine’s Tarryholme Drive is successful, they will have saved money and purchased a ready-made purpose-built centre which will deliver “cutting-edge” services.

A spokesperson for North Ayrshire Council said: “We can confirm we have submitted a bid for Red Cross House. This is a joint bid on behalf of the council and the NHS.

“If we are successful in our bid, this would represent a fantastic opportunity for us to develop and deliver cutting-edge services from a perfect location.

“When plans were initially drawn up for a new learning disability day centre, the purchase of Red Cross House was not an option. However, when Red Cross House became available, we moved quickly to secure it as it offered many more benefits than the proposed facility at Stevenston.”

The council say purchasing Red Cross House is an all-round better decision and will allow them to incorporate the plans made for the Stevenston centre, as well as include extra facilities which would otherwise not have been available.

A spokesman added: “As well as being more cost effective, Red Cross House would be larger than the proposed centre at Stevenston and able to provide facilities, such as a hydrotherapy pool, which would not otherwise be available. The early work which has been done on the disability day centre would be transferred and incorporated into the development of Red Cross House, if the purchase goes ahead.

“We are very excited about this opportunity and we look forward to liaising with service users and carers about how they want the services to develop.

“They will be fully involved in that process and we’re sure that they will be looking forward to helping to shape the future of what would be fantastic, high-quality resource with great transport links.”

But Councillor for Saltcoats and Stevenston, Jim Montgomerie voiced his outrage at the plans.

He said: “Here we go again! Stevenston is to lose £6.1m of investment. Local constituents again are up in arms with this SNP-run council. As usual it’s the local punters who are going to be affected.

“The local elections are only a year away. I hope the people of Stevenston remember what this SNP-run council are doing to our local community. 

“We were looking forward to some great investment into the area and here we are again they are talking the talk but not walking the walk. Extraordinary stuff from the SNP decision makers.”