Knock back for Girvan and Maybole town centre bids

Nov 20 2009 by Edwin Lawrence, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

IT WAS supposed to be a nailed-on certainty.

It was supposed to be a new start for a hard-pressed community.

And Scottish Government ministers were among those hinting – if not exactly promising – Girvan would get a £2.75m regeneration package.

But the hints turned out to be yet another false dawn for a town that has seen so many.

Girvan Community Council chairman Alec Clark now fears dismay could turn to despair.

He said: “This is a real body-blow. I know many in the town are sickened.

“Our last remaining leisure facility – the swimming pool – was closed earlier this year.

“Then came a terrible blow at the seaweed factory, with around 150 jobs going.”

Mr Clark added: “Government ministers and council chiefs told us it was going to be ‘Girvan First’.

“But that has not been the case.”

Girvan’s funding bid – submitted by South Ayrshire Council – would have included a new pool, and the council would have contributed additional funding.

Mr Clark said: “The council must now show leadership and give a commitment and a timescale to providing basic facilities for us.”

An £877,000 bid for Maybole town centre also failed – making it a miserable double for Carrick’s two leading towns.

Maybole Community Council chairman Alex Kelly said: “An old Co-op building and the area around it has been an issue here for around 30 years.

“Re-development there would make a tremendous difference to our main street.

“But so too would a bypass. And the Scottish Government has so far not answered our plea on that either.”

SNP government minister Adam Ingram, a South of Scotland list MSP based in Ayrshire, said he shared Girvan and Maybole’s disappointment.

He pointed out: “I understand the competition was fierce, and the Scottish Government is required to be seen to be fair and equitable to all parts of the country.

“Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Galston, Cumnock and Ayr were all successful in applying to the first tranche of funding earlier this year.

“And in the second round of funding, Kilmarnock’s bid proved successful.

“Looking to the future, I believe that South Ayrshire Council has a duty to ensure that a replacement swimming pool facility for Girvan is prioritised within their capital programme.”

Sandra Osborne MP said she was deeply disappointed the Scottish Government didn’t give greater priority to the two towns in the Carrick part of her Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock constituency.

She said: “There is an urgent need to regenerate both town centres, with Girvan also clearly desperately needing replacement leisure facilities.”

Mrs Osborne called on the public to keep up the pressure to ensure town centres don’t slip down the political agenda.

South Ayrshire Council leader Hugh Hunter said he was extremely disappointed the Scottish Government had turned down bids prepared by his top officials.

He said: “I’m personally disappointed for the towns. I’m also disappointed for our officials, who I know put together high-quality bids.

“But most of all I’m disappointed for the people in Girvan and Maybole, whose expectations were hugely raised.”

Councillor Hunter said South Ayrshire would now “focus on the way forward.”