The campaign against the change of use of the CEVIC Centre into a nursery continued this week with another protest.

Protesters gathered in Catrine on Monday morning (September 21) at 11am, outside both the CEVIC and the existing Early Childhood Centre to voice their opposition to the council’s plans.

Cumnock Chronicle: Save the CEVIC protesters.Save the CEVIC protesters.

Last week, East Ayrshire Council Chief Executive Fiona Lees, confirmed that the planning application will not be put before the planning committee “efore November at the earliest,” in order that there is time for an adequate response to be given to a formal complaint concerning the plans and so that a meeting can be set up between the community and the council.

Despite these assurances the Save the CEVIC group are steaming ahead with their opposition campaign.

Cumnock Chronicle: Protesters outside the Catrine Early Childhood Centre.Protesters outside the Catrine Early Childhood Centre. A spokesperson for the group outlined their objectives, they call for a face to face meeting with decision makers from the council, with all Ballochmyle Ward Elected Members invited.

They demand that: “Any outcome is followed up with a written press release signed off by EAC Senior Management, EAC Cabinet, local elected members and our group giving a firm and formal commitment to our Community going forward,”.

They also said that the “planning application for change of use of CEVIC building is stopped immediately and completely withdrawn” .

The group also call for: “An independent person to investigate the concerns we have highlighted and that report is made public.”

Finally, moving forwards, they say that a group should be: “established to explore the options which the village may have going forward.

“This group should contain Community Representatives from across the village, a senior decision maker

from EAC, local Elected Representatives and the main funders who have an interest in coming up with solutions.”