I`VE just been looking at a short video posted on U tube which tells the sorry tale of the demise of Girvan. The closure of the swimming pool has just proved a catalyst and people are taking a look at their town and saying enough is enough. Shops, pubs, hotels are all closing down, the Beach Pavilion, gone - there is a sense of dereliction. It will be interesting to see how many people join Saturday`s protest march - for they have a lot to be unhappy about.

And sadly they are not alone. I wrote this week in the Carrick Gazette how Girvan. may have lost a pool, but there was a list as long as your arm of services that are being - or have already been - closed in Maybole. There too there are derelict buildings and shut shops.

And when you look at Ayr Town Centre, the once proud county town is a shadow of its old self. Historic buldings are tired, with weeds growing out from cracks in the stonework; Wellington Square where the Council hq stands, at first glance looks imp-ressive, but look closely and you see the weeds, the litter,the peeling paintwork - where is the pride? In the town centre there are`to let` signs everywhere on empty shops; shutters are up on the Gaiety - though I haven`t totally given up hope that a way will be found to open the theatre again. Talks are still going on with interested parties.

So where have things gone so badly wrong? Without going down the political route we did have more than 10 years when South Ayrshire Council became a job centre rather than a service provider with cash coming in going towards employing more people and not towards the services they should have been providing. However as people will point out we have had almost four years of a change of administration.

The introduction of Civic Pride initiatives was a recognition that the place was looking shabby and rundown, but flower baskets were only painting over the cracks.

I think things will begin to change now; we have new people in the County Buildings looking with fresh eyes and hopefully producing new ideas to halt the slide before if becomes an avalanche.

But when I look at the dilapidated village signs, the litter, the uncut grass, the general neglect I can`t help asking why we went to Dubai to encourage people to come here for the homecoming and the Open at Turnberry.

The golf course - and our countryside are fabulous - but we are not doing them justice. We should welcome visitors to see them but they won`t be able to close their eyes to everything else around them in South Ayrshire.

We have four an a half months to gee up our act before the influx of golf enthusiasts arrive - and I mean all of us, not just the council. Pick up the litter, touch up the paint. It`s maybe too late for the town centres for this year - but a general tidying up would go a long way to improving our image

Not the best of starts

It`s a bit late I know - but Happy New Year.

We haven`t got off to a very good start. It`s seems as if it has been one protest aftr another.

I have been heading up a campaign to save Ayr Gaiety from closure. We started a deliberate publicity pusg before Christmas, when I became aware that closure of the theatre at the end of January `for refurbishment` could in fact be closure of Ayr Gaiety, full stop. It needs a lot of money spent on it - at Health and Safety insistence (residents of Girvan will be familiar with that justification)- money that the council just doesn`t have.

But a small group of us argued that the shortage of council cash didn`t need to mean the curtain coming down for good. We decided that out there, there must be someone who would want to take over a theatre - and the council shouldn`t be running it anway - thus began our campaign which I am happy to report (fingers crossed) has attracted interested parties and talks are going ahead.

Sad thing is the same can`t be said about Girvan Swimming Pool. The decline has been going on for years (like the Gaiety) but I guess councillors just didn`t want to face up to the inevitable. Maybe they were hoping for a miracle - but Health and Safety saw it differently.

It was, of course, the way the closure was announced that particularly incensed local people. One day it was open, the next it was shut. No reassurances of future developments, though I believe talks are now going on.

It is not a good start to the year and as I write this Council leader Hugh Hunter is in Dubai along with Enterprise staff promoting South Ayrshire`s Homecoming events and its golf courses. The invite to go came from Leisurecorps, new owners of Turnberry Hotel and while they paid for the Council Leader to go (the Provost though invited was unable to attend) the council had to meet the £15,000 cost of the workers - the enterprise staff who will man the council stall at the big golf tournament.

The argument, of course, is that we will get back a lot more than £15,000 with the number of tourists we can attract to play our courses and attend the Open in July.
Let us hope so. Though the timing could have been better.

To end on a happier note, the big launch weekend for the Year of the Homecoming and Burns` 250th anniversary went with a bang - literally at Alloway where there was an amazing light and firework display depicting Tam o` Shanter`s ride. From concerts and poetry readings to exhibitions and the I Robert Burns Show in the Gaiety - not forgetting dozens of Burns Suppers including one attended by First Minister Alex Salmond - it was a superb showcase for Ayr and South Ayrshire and hopefully a taste of what is to come for the rest of the year.

Happy New Year?

Today is December 28 - so we are halfway through. Just Hogmanay and New Year`s Day to go and life can get back to normal.
That is if life can ever be `normal` again. With all the prophets of doom constantly tellinng us how bad the new year is going to be, I can`t help but think of Burns` words from Tae a Mouse - Forward though I canna see, I guess and fear.

But speaking of Burns we do have the Year of the Homecoming to look forward to. Ayr will be he launching pad for the year of clebrations, with a great Burnsfest weekend planned for the 24th and 25th to mark the 250th anniversary of the bard`s birth.

Communities in South Ayrshire have a number of events planned for the whole year both to entertain you and any visitors who are attracted here because of the falling pound (You see every cloud does have a silver lining!)

Season`s greetings

WELL are you all set for Christmas? Hvae you been out taking advantage of the sudden rash of sales on the High Street? Or are you so gripped with fear over the state of the economy, the credit crunch and the state of the stock markets you`re not venturing over the threshhold? Is Christmas cancelled this year?

I can`t help but wonder how much of the panic has been created by the media. We`ve had recessions before and survived them without being panicked into thinking the world as we know it is about to end.

I blame it on the 24-hour media; the non-stop demand for news and the way the commentators actually seem to enjoy telling us of the latest banking crisis. There are regular reports of how the stockmarkets round the world are doing. Do you understand a word of it? I don`t and suspect I am not alone

True this one is different - ie the parlous state of the banks and their mismanagement of our affairs - personal and council.

I was at an international dinner a couple of weeks ago in Edinburgh when Cosla (Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities) were entertaining fellow councillors from all over Europe.(And once again I sat mortified as all spoke fluent English. But I digress). At the table was a councillor from Iceland and I was so tempted to say to him that I would be happy to take a cheque on behalf of the council, it didn`t need to £5m in cash. But then I reckoned the poor sod had probably heard that joke too many times during the day and I decided not to spoil his dinner.

But the government I see is going to borrow zillions to buy our way out of the crisis. What I keep asking myself is - where is all that cash coming from?

However back to Christmas. There has been a bit of a rammy this week at council hq over the festive greetings cards chosen for councillors to send out. Someone who shall remain nameless (to spare his blushes) decided as 2009 was the year of the Homecoming and the 250th anniversary of Burns` birth, it would be a good idea to use the council`s famous Goudie paintings as illustrations. Now the Goudie paintings show in graphic detail Tam`s ride to Alloway`s auld haunted kirk, his confrontation with the witches and the de`il and his flight to the bridge. Fine so far. But the paintings are also a tad bawdy - naked figures, admittedly small, boozing, carousing, add a bit of debauchery - and many shocked councillors have decided these don`t exactly illustrate the spirit of Christmas. Ideal to celebrate Burns Night - but not the birth of Christ, or for the secular, the arrival of Santa.

At the time of writing it is my understanding that an alternative card is going to be made available.

However Saturday, December 22 was one of the highlights of my council year - the occasion was the switch-on of the superb Maybole Christmas lights and along with my fellow councillors I rode up High Street with Santa in his sledge. Magic.

And seeing the joy in the kids` faces it was a reminder of what the season is all about - and despite the crisis will go ahead as normal. Enjoy.

Who has gone to Iceland?

I remember way back when I took out my first bank account, I had a vision of a cupboard somewhere where my savings sat in a pile and I could walk in at any time and lift them out. This concept of the banking process in fact stayed with me for many decades. My money was piled up there all safe and warm . . .
Then came the shock realisation that it was all just figures on paper.

Which begs the question just WHERE is all the money? Where are those trillions of pounds being banded about to save the economy from meltdown? What giant cupboard are they stashed in?

Have you noticed how actual money is going out of fashion? Whe did you last use actual cash? I keep getting caught out by the window-cleaner who naturally enough does not deal in plastic. Now, to meet the demands of the 21st century he has to accept cheques - or, I would imagine, he would never get paid! But at least, going door to door, he does get paid in the real thing unlike the rest of us who just see figures on pay cheques and bank statenets.

I`ve named this month`s blog, who`s gone to Iceland. Well actually, I have. I was in Reykjavik earlier this year as part of a Cosla delegation to an international conference. And what a fascinating place it is. During a conducted tour the success of their banking institutions was stressed and the place was certainly booming. Gleaming tower business blocks were dominating the quaint old fashioned city and round every corner you found a construction site. There was a real air of prosperity - not a street beggar in sight. In most driveways there were at least two large 4x4s - admittedly the Icelanders need them rather than small cars,considering their extreme climate and desolate landcape. And the other signs of a successful economy were there - McDonalds, Starbucks, Hilton Hotels. . . .

I came home raving about how a nation with a small population - around 350,000- could prosper and pointing out that South Ayrshire Council could learn some lessons for future development.

Little did I realise they were already there. . . . And now we have the discovery this week that £5m of your taxpayers` cash is locked up in an Icelandic bank with little sign of it being released any time soon.

It is of course too early so say how this will affect the council`s finances and your services - and it is people higher placed than me that will be making the decisions.



I hope the matter doesn`t become a political football between the Scottish and Westminster governments; that a sensible solution is found and soon.

On another matter entirely plans are now well underway for the Year of the Homecoming. South Ayrshire is hosting the opening event - a week-end of Burns celebrations with a Burns Supper hosted by First Minister Alex Salmond and a spectacular light event at Burns Monument kicking things off. However the year goes on until Novemeber and the council is keen for groups and associations to put on Burns themed events throughout the year. Cash is available and application forms for grants up to £5,000 are now waiting to be picked up at Burns House and the council are encouraging people to apply. (The forms are a wee bit daunting - but council staff are only too ready to help you fill them in. If you have an idea, get cracking - before all the money is handed out!

Summer`s over

Well that`s it over for another year - the summer that is. What summer I hear you ask. I hope you managed to get away on holiday without your travel company or airline going bust.

I wasn`t so lucky. Off to New York, my daughter and I were originally booked on the ill-fated Silverjet. Luckily we booked by credit card. The company went down the tubes about a month before our departure date and we managed to a) get our money back and b) get another flight. Makes you think twice about taking up those great deals on the internet though. Are the days of cheap travel numbered?.

New York was great, hot and cheap but the memories have long faded into the distance. Returning to the council after the recess tends to do that - brings you back to earth with a bump.

And it is going to be a bumpy ride I fear over the next months, if not years.

First jolt was the news that the Ayr United/Barratt Homes deal had fallen through. That is seriously concerning both for the town and of course the football club and their fans. Ayr United needs a new stadium and Ayr could do with the additional housing, particularly the affordable variety that was part of the deal.
Accusations have been hurled around over who was to blame - apart from the current mortgage drought and the poor state of the building industry - and the council haven`t escaped criticism from the Ayr United chairman over their handling of the planning aspects of the deal.

Another major development, if not heading for the buffers, is facing major change. Ayr Racecourse is up for sale and in this present economic climate buyers may not be queuing up. And obviously the major improvements are on hold. Again implications from the owners that the council took too long (five years) over the planning process.

We are easy targets of course.

Is the future of the new West of Scotland University and Scottish Agricultural
College secure? This is a multi-million pound deal with a lot hanging on it. Watch this space - but I certainly hope so.

There is also the major housing plan for Barassie - around 600 houses - will it too but put on hold?

It`s at times like this I am glad to be a humble `back bencher` and not one of the council`s Leadership Panel faced with these major headaches.

Facing us too in the near future is what to do with Ayr Gaiety. The historic old theatre needs a lot of tlc - and a lot of money spent on it to mainly meet Health and Safety demands. Decisions have been put off for years - now we are facing D-day. One option, of course is closure - one I personally can`t comtemplate - and I regularly remind colleagues who weren`t around at the time, what happened the last time they tried to close the Gaiety - street protests, massive nationwide bad publicity, Johnny Beattie threatening to lie in front of bulldozers! We don`t want to go through that again. I also remind them how unforgiving you, the public, can be!


And to top it all the Audit Scotland is currently in the building carrying out their inspection to see how well we operate. That report when it comes out should make interesting reading!

However to strike a brighter note, not to leave you thoroughly depressed, we have the Year of the Homecoming almost upon us - a year of celebrating all thing Scottish and it is kicking off in Ayr with a Burnsfest on January 24 and 25.

With the spectre of the disastrous debacle that was the 200th anniversary celebration (or non event as it turned out after spending a fortune))of the poet`s death in 1996 hovering in the background, I think we can expect a much better effort this time around when we celebrate the 250th anniversay of his birth. (It is difficult typing with fingers crossed!)

Crunch time

HAVE you noticed the crunch starting to bite?

We`ve read all the headlines about Sub-Prime mortgages, the rising cost of the barrel of oil, felt the pain at the petrol pumps, seen the warnings about the increased cost of food and stared in horror at the weekly shopping bill.

But is it actually affecting our way of life?

I must admit to having seen worrying signs that it is beginning to - certainly my life.

First sign came with the plan for a night out at the cinema - three of us off to see Sex and the City. Now normally we go to Kilmarnock Odeon rather than Ayr - better choice of films, more cinemas and more comfortable seats. Then one friend said, why drive all the way to Kilmarnock with the price of petrol, let`s just go to Ayr Odeon. So the rot begins.

(It turned out to be a bad choice as Ayr decided not to show Sex and the City that night - not enough demand - so we had to make a rushed trip to Kilmarnock anyway only to discover the show was sold out. So much for the no demand at Ayr - or maybe Kilmarnock was filled by all those Ayr turned away. Reminds me, I was going to write to the manager and complain. But I digreess)

Driving to Edinburgh last week I found myself sticking to under 60mph - better for fuel consumption - only to find every tanker and lorry on the M8 flashing me then thundering past at 70mph. Now if their businesses and owners are finding it tough with the increased cost of diesel why don`t they impose a 50mph limit on all freight transport? Would take the terror out of morotway driving for the rest of us and save them cash .

Then on Saturday I was heading to Glasgow and went by train! Nothing unusual you say? It is for me. I always drive to Glasgow but on Saturday on calculating the petrol cost, the wear and tear on the car, the parking charges (always rising) I decided to let the Scotrail take the strain. Though still not as clean and efficient as the Glasgow-Edinburgh train, the journey was uneventful, not too many mobile phone chats and I arrived on time, both ways. So I may well do it again and cut down my carbon footprint

These are small things I know, but if we all start doing it; going to the nearest supermarket instead of driving; choosing a different restaurant or cinema; switching off lights, cutting down on heating, etc. it is slowly going to have a huge effect on the businesses we are no longer going to and the economy as a whole - and I don`t think the politicians nationally and locally have realised it yet.


And speaking of politicians we have reached the end of our first year and looking back what have we done?

At first sight it seems not a lot and negative things spring to mind - shutting public toilets, the Pets Corner at Belleisle, putting a two mile restriction on school buses, failing to make much of an improvement on roads.

The list could go on.

But we have done a lot of good things too in public safety, trading standards. efforts to make the streets and beaches cleaner. A lot goes on behind the scenes that doesn`t hit the headlines. We are going to try and change that next year and let you know the good along with the bad.

It has been the first year of a four-party council, with the minority administration having to work closely with the others to get measures passed. And it has worked. There is more of a spirit of collaboration within the County Buildings and that can only be for the good