UNSURPRISINGLY, Mr Donohoe’s comments have not sat well with ANCHO Director Elaine Gibson.

In a scathing response, Mrs Gibson rubbished the MP’s claims that the project has faced hostility and insists AnCHO have received “overwhelmingly strong” support from the Redburn and Vineburgh community.

She said: “I am afraid that I find it depressing that an elected Member of Parliament seems to want to stand in the way of a change which so clearly offers the community of Redburn more and not less.

“A more cynical person might suggest that he was endeavouring to make political capital out of it in the run up to a General election!

“I previously offered to meet with Mr Donohoe to discuss his concerns and i’m still happy to do so, but he has not taken up my offer to date.

“As a result, sadly, Mr Donohoe does not seem to grasp that the reasons ANCHO’s proposal for the centre might actually work is due firstly to our ability to provide independent financial backing to the centre cross-subsidised through our housing activities, and secondly, to our ability, as a registered charity, to bring additional grant funding to benefit the centre and the local community.

"Throughout the proposal process, we have actively engaged with Redburn and Vineburgh Community Association over a series of meetings, including a meeting with ANCHO’s Management Board.

"There remain some issues to be resolved in terms of the proposed changes to the accommodation and a further meeting between RVCA and our architect took place this Tuesday – thus demonstrating that we are still actively listening to and addressing RVCA’s concerns, and that they are actively participating with us in this process.” Mrs Gibson added: “in terms of the views of the wider community, AnCHO consulted with 9,000 residents throughout Redburn, Castlepark and the wider area around the Centre in August 2014.

“We also consulted with our own tenants in the area via our newsletter, and with the wider Irvine community via the local newspapers.

“We have held a Community BBQ and an open day to also consult with people about the proposal. the outcome of all of our consultation has been overwhelmingly strong support for our proposal, and we can evidence that.

“It would be interesting to see what evidence Mr Donohoe has for his assertion that the people of Castlepark, Redburn and Vineburgh are against our proposal.

“Far from encountering ‘hostility’, I am pleased to say that we have mainly encountered enthusiasm for and interest in the benefits which might be brought to the local community through our proposal.

“We look forward to now working with RVCA in a constructive way to take forward an exciting and imaginative future for Redburn Community Centre and the community it serves into the foreseeable future.”