Following the decision by the Scottish Executive to withdraw their objection to the appeal lodged by Heritage Scotland, all interested parties were invited to submit fresh submissions to the Executive, solely on the point of the proposed retail development, by 4th April.
The local action group, United for Heathfield, made a fresh submission arguing on a variety of grounds and were originally told by a civil servant that the Executives own timescale for a decision was between 4 to 6 weeks.
Three months later, still no decision and now another civil servant has backtracked on the earlier statement regarding the timescale – so it looks as if a decision is still a long way off. UfH are in the process of contacting the local MSP's regarding this situation.
John Dalton of United for Heathfield tells the Mad Ayr website that on a related matter, that of the upgrading of Whitletts Roundabout, UfH have recently written to ALL local South Ayrshire Councillors asking them to press the Scottish Executive to include the roundabout in the future upgrading of the A77.
This is vital part of the quest for a new stadium as United were asked to provide the roundabout upgrade as part of the stadium development. Since this original Sam Galbraith decision in November 2000, there has been a number of new developments built around the Whitletts Roundabout that have not required the roundabout to be upgraded, despite the fact that they are solely car generative i.e. car showrooms. Once again, hypocracy from the planners.