Fenwick cafe open and shut in a week

Dec 26 2008 by Ian Russell, Kilmarnock Standard

PLANNERS have sunk a lochside eco-friendly cafe just a week after it opened.

East Ayrshire Council officials almost choked on their cornflakes when they opened the Standard on Thursday morning to see the previous weekend’s ‘grand opening’ of the Cafe on the Lochan featured.

Provost Stephanie Young was pictured with staff outside the building near Fenwick performing the opening ceremony.

But anxious council chiefs suspected the project didn’t have planning permission or a building warrant. They were right.

By late Friday afternoon the new £200,000-plus cafe had been shut down by enforcement officers.

On Monday Simon Craufurd, of Craufurdland Estate, said: “We were led to believe by the builders that everything was in place for us to legitimately open.

“East Ayrshire Council has acted in the public interest, and now we just want to re-open as soon as possible.”

Mr Craufurd said he intended meeting with building control officers Monday, but because of the festive holidays it could take longer for the paperwork to be processed than would normally be the case.

Said Provost Young: “I feel very sad for the Craufurds. The cafe was opened in good faith and they appeared to believe they had all the planning permission, etc that was necessary.”

A spokeswoman for EAC said: “The council is now awaiting retrospective applications for the building. Enforcement officers visited the site last Friday and the council has served notice under the Building (Scotland) Act which specifies the steps required to be taken.

“The council can also confirm that the provost was entirely unaware of the planning issues when she agreed to perform the opening.”