A plan to sell an Ayr Common Good property to a local arts group for £1 without getting approval from the courts has been pulled.
Objectors had criticised the sale of Darlington Church to Iris Arts CIC after it had leased the building to the group two years ago.
Questions had been raised about a reported expert opinion which stated the council would not need to go to the courts to get permission to sell the property.
But the report was withdrawn late on Monday, ahead of South Ayrshire Council's leadership panel meeting this morning.
Iris Arts, a community interest company, won the race to lease the church on Main Street in 2019, after it set out an ambitious business plan which would have seen the building transformed into community arts hub.
It was also given the opportunity to purchase the building, which forms part of Ayr Common Good, during the term of the lease. At the time this was to allow time to carry out work and determine if the money to refurbish the building was achievable.
The council's leadership panel was to be asked to agree on the sale for a pound, but had not sought any evidence to say that progress has been made, either on the building itself or the funding the group has secured.
Objectors say that Iris Arts have 'failed to even paint the railings' outside the church, despite maintaining such a historic building being a prime goal of securing a lease.
In its original business plan, Iris Arts had stated that they expected to secure £230,000 in funding by May 2020. While the pandemic disrupted matters from March 2020 onward, their plan had included grants of £114,000 being made by November 2019.
However, no information relating to the financial viability was in the report that had been due to go before councillors on Tuesday.
The plans also stated that a separate private limited company would be set up to run the operational side of things, including refurbishment and leasing to the community.
However, the company, Iris Arts LTD, was not set up until December 2020, 19 months after the lease was agreed.
The CIC had already applied to purchase the church before that had even happened, with a consultation running from November 2020 to January this year.
As part of the town's Common Good, the council itself said it had to receive the 'consent' of a sheriff before selling it.
However, in the pulled report it reneged on that previous position without going into the reasons why.
"The council sought expert external legal advice on this matter and, after receiving this advice, the council is satisfied that the consent of the sheriff court is not required to sell the former Darlington Church."
Objections have been raised about the move, arguing that there is no evidence that any progress has been made in improving the building or in terms of securing the funding set out by the company.
The other company involved was Shout! Productions, which had started in 2016. In the Iris Arts business plan, Shout! would be working closely with both the CIC and the Ltd company to create a film programme.
Ross Hunter is a director in all three companies.
Shout! was set to be struck off in March 2018 and again in January 2020. While the strike off was suspended, there remains an active proposal, while its accounts are two years overdue.
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