The best laid schemes

HAVE you heard of the Year of the Homecoming? Probably not unless you are a member of a Burns Club or Community Council or Association.

It is the big celebration planned for next year to draw millions of exiled Scots `back home` for a holiday. It is based on five main themes - Burns, Golf, Whisky, the Enlightenment and Innovation. And of course South Ayrshire is ripe to take full advantage of two of these - Burns and Golf. And by luck rather than design the same year sees the British Open coming to Turnberry - a gift horse if ever there was one!

So you would think that we would be well ahead with our plans to take advantage of this one-off event backed by the Scottish Government. Think again.

Those with memories of 1996 when what should have been a world-wide celebration of the 200 anniversay of Burns death turned into a shambolic fiasco, must be shuddering as they think `here we go again`.

But with a lot of luck, victory as they say, can be snatched from the jaws of defeat and we will make a better job of celebrating the 250th anniversary of the poet`s birth.

Event Scotland have been brought in at the last gasp - applications for available government funding have to be in by February 26 - to organise things and having attended a presentation last week they certainly talk the talk - let`s hope their abilities match their aspirations.

South Ayrshire Council, I am glad to say, is also getting its act together and there are talks about having a major event to launch the Homecoming Year at Alloway on January 25. Spring will see the Burns an` a` that festival and July, of course, The Open.

And as well as the big themed events there are hopes that organsiations, clubs and even individuals will come forward with their ideas to help fill a year`s programme of celebration for the visitors we hope will come. Maybole is already well ahead with plans for an event following the brilliant success of last year`s celebration of the wedding of Burns parents at Maybole.

As I said, Allowway should be the centre of the opening event - and probably will be - but there is one small snag . . . the prestigious new £17million Burns museum and visitor centre planned for Alloway won`t be open in time - in fact there will probably be a building site there, with work not scheduled to finish until 2010. As usual it seems we were at the coo`s tale. The National Trust for Scotland who are taking over responsibility for the cottage and heritage park failed to get their submission for funds in to the Heritage Lottery Fund on the preferred date - talk about the best laid schemes - which would have allowed the centre with a bit of an effort, to be open by the November, a stylish and appropriate end to the Homecoming Year The bid is going in three months late which has pushed the completion date well into the following year - assuming we get the £6million, which is not guaranteed. But let`s not dwell on that.

Unfortunately plans for Burns Cottage also look as if they may not be completed in time and a make-do option is being prepared.

Why am I not surprised? Disappointed certainly but not surprised.

ALL aspects of being a councillor have their fascinating side but I think the planning committee - or Regulatory Panel as it is now called - is one of the more interesting. And this year we could be making decisions that will have a major impact on South Ayrshire.

We`ve already approved a massive 600-house development for East Troon, the new Girvan hospital, and a new university campus at Ayr has received outline planning approval.

And this week saw the transfer of land valued at £4m from South Ayrshire Council to the Univerity of the West of Scotland allow their plans for the new multi-million campus to go ahead. It was a decision not taken easily for although talks have been going on for three years, the university plan was new to we new councillors and the land transer had cost implications - we were giving it to the university for free, but the Archive Centre, which is housed on the site at Craigie, would need to be transferred to another building.

Initially were were being asked to meet the cost of renting the new premises but following a decision of the full council last week to agree in principal to the land transfer - the Archive Centre relocation will be re-negotiated. We are hoping to be paying a peppercorn rent or even better, no rent at all, for the new site, which will probably be at Auchincruive.

The university hope to start work on the site on August - the present Criaige campus buildings are well past theri sell-by-date - but full planning consent has still to be given. Also coming before the Regulatory Panel in the near future are the new football stadium plan for Ayr United and a hotel, house and golf course grand plan for Auchincruive Estate.

As I said - interesting times for South Ayrshire and the Regulatory Panel members.

SEASON`S GREETINGS

`Tis the season to be jolly - and I am sure you have more to do with your time than to keep up with my ramblings this month. So I will keep it short.

But last week proved to be quite a momentous one at the council. It is not often that you can feel you have really made a difference - but last week we did. The Regulatory Panel (the new name for the planning committee) in the course of two days approved three massive and important developments for the future of South Ayrshire.

First we approved an application to build almost 600 houses at East Troon, edging Barassie. This has been 10 years in the planning, including a public inquiry, but finally last Wednesday we were able to give the go-ahead to builders Stuart Milne. Of the 600 or so houses, 150 will come into the `affordable` category and at last the planners have come to realise that it is essential when social houses are included in a developoment (we no longer build council house estates) they shouldn`t stick out like a sore thumb, creating a `them and us` scenario. You only need to look at some of the Ayrshire Housing that has gone up to see what I mean - Doonfoot and Coylton spring to mind!

Coming with this development are community benefits, including new sports facilities at the nearest primary school, plus cash from the developer towards educational provision in the area. Details have still to be thrashed out but a lot of new families will move into the area and the kids will need to go to school.

The next day we approved the outline planning application for the new Paisley university campus at Craigie Estate in Ayr. The old Craigie College will disappear and in its place there will be new university buildings which will also house the students of the West of Scotland Agricultural College. Around 250 houses will also be built on the former pitch and put course on the estate, including again 25 per cent affordable housing.

There are concerns locally about the pressure on the traffic flow, but the roads experts feel their new plan will happily cope with the increase. We will need to wait and see, bearing in mind another 400 houses are going up in the area as part of the Ayr Racecourse development.

Finally we also passed the plans for the new Girvan Community Hospital. There had been fears that this would be sacrificed by the Health Board as part of the overspill from the Scottish Government`s decision to keep the Ayr A&E department open, but happily these fears have proved groundless. On Thursday we approved plans for in-patients and out-patients facilities, a rehabilitation suite, community casualty facilities, an ambulance station, pharmacy and cafeteria.

AND it will all be powered by a large wind turbine- very eco-friendly!

A good way to end 2007.

All there is left for me to say is I wish you joy at Christmas and peace, health and prosperity in 2008.

Goodbye Gibson

THIS has been a difficult month. My friend and mentor Gibson Macdonald died after a cruelly short illness.

Like a lot of people who retire after a hectic career, Gibson did not get the time to enjoy his years of leisure. There was so much he planned to do. Perhaps the trials and tribulations - as well as the sheer enthusiasm and enjoyment- he felt in running South Ayrshire Council as leade staved off the symptoms of his final illness. But when he was `put out to pasture` - his words - in May, the cancer took over.

Gibson Macdonald was a ruthless as well as natural-born politician -and one I had the pleasure of knowing for over 30 years, first when I was the council reporter for the Ayr Advertiser and latterly as a colleague. He was also my mentor. It was Gibson who suggested that I should run for the council when I retired from journalism and he supported me throughout all my campaigning. In fact the creation of this blog came out of a conversation with him. He helped me with the technical side of setting it up, but warned me -`Once you have set it up you have to keep it going. You can`t let your electorate down`. That could almost have been his epitaph.

Gibson loved politics, local politics in particular. He revelled in the challenge, the wheeling and dealing.He had an amazing knowledge of local government and his sharp intellect will be sorely missed. One could be tempted to say that the current stooshie over the exit of the Chief Executive might not have happened had Gibson been around and well enough to advise on the issues.

Though having said that . . .
Researching material for his obituary which I had the priviege of writing, I was looking up a book written by another prominent local politician,the late Councillor Alec Sloan of Coylton,father of my fellow councillor Sandra Goldie.In his memoirs Those WERE the Days he wrote openly and scathingly about the goings-on behind the scenes in the corridors of power.

In a chapter named The Day of the Long Knives he gives an account of the`ousting` of the then Kyle and Carrick Chief Executive John Hill, when a trio of Conservative councillors (one of them Gibson) decided that the post of Chief Executive should be abolished. After some pressure,in the end Mr Hill agreed to resign to allow the council to `restructure`. According to Councillor Sloan, Mr Hill received credited years allowing him his full pension. Plus ca change!

Throughout my newspaper career Labour always accused me of favouring the Toies but once Gibson famously called me into his office and accused me of siding with Labour. I got it from both sides so must have been doing something right!

Gibson Macdoanld was a gifted politician - one with a great sense of humour. He could also laugh at himself, something rare in local politics where people take themslves very seriously. He was devoted to his adopted home town of Ayr. He will be sorely missed.


ON the domestic side I have been dealing with matters down Maidens way. Their last community council lasted until 10.30pm and the room was packed with local folk - a sure sign that there is an issue of local concern. Two words - Ayrshire Housing. Affordable housing is going up on the site of the former community centre and there is a lot of local anxiety. A lot of old ground was gone over- why was the land, a prime site, sold for only £150,000 and why did the cash not come back into the village? Councils unfortunately don`t work like that. The main concern though was about who would be allocated the houses; a lot of people thought they should only go to local folk, maybe pensioners. I am going to try and get an officer from the appropriate department to come and speak to the next community council meeting and maybe allay some fears.

The idea of a Maidens cemetery has caught the local imagination and Cassillis Estates appear to be looking favourably of the idea of donating land. However there is still a long way to go and there is the thorny question of financial backing from the council in these cash-strapped time. I will keep you posted.

The French Connection

Thought I`d give a different slant to my blog this month - give you the French perspective.

So the UK is going to sign up to the new European Convention without a referendum - and even before the debate in parliament starts we have the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth particularly from our brethren south of the border. Unlike the Scots, I don`t think the English are natural Europeans. We after all have the Auld Alliance and the shared history of fighting the English!

Come the constitution we`ll get even more of those terrible European influences bearing down on us - like maybe clean, litter-free streets, busy and buoyant town centres, a superb network of public transport, trains that run on time and are clean, good healthy eating ( you really don`t see all that many obese people in France ) and good weather - well maybe the last one is going a bit far.

You can tell from this onslaught that I have been out of the country for a short time - and in fact have been in two of South Ayrshire`s twin towns across the Channel. The first visit was to Villenuve-sur-Lot,celebrating 20 years of twinning with Troon. This was the `official` part of my trip - though I hasten to add that myself and my fellow councillors who travelled to France did so at our own expense (before the word`jolly` springs to mind!)I then travelled north - via the magnificent TGV - to visit Ayr`s twin, St Germain-en-Laye where I have many friends.

Both towns are very different, one rural and the other, sitting next to Paris, very sophisticated. But both have much in common - both are clean, vibrant and bustling and despite having large supermarkets on their peripheries, the town centres are full of independent little shops doing a roaring trade. Not a charity shop or for let/for sale sign anywhere to be seen.

The ceremony to mark the town twinning anniversary was the naming of a roundabout, Place de Troon. Not very exciting you might think. But forget your Whitletts, the Villeneuve roundabouts bear little resemblance to ours. For a start they are generally covered in flowers and are extremely decorative. The town obviously has a very active Parks Department. As we left the workmen were out taking down the first of the hundreds of floral baskets bedecking the town and wonder of wonders, scooping up all the autumn leaves with their giant industrial hoover`.

In St Germain-en-Laye the council workers were out each morning power-washing the streets and the town sqaure, which no longer has cars clogging it up thanks to a spanking new underground car park. There was almost no litter to be seen and certainly no chewing gum disfiguring the pavements.

And the lesson you ask? Obviously the French are doing something we`re not. And I`m not just talking South Ayrshire - but the whole of Scotland. Speaking to the French councillors they have cashflow problems, priorities and social problems too, but they seem to manage it better. There`s a lot we could learn from them I think - but I guess an exchange research visit will be out of the question!

But the French in general definitely think more in European terms than we do. It was obvious even at the small ceremony to mark the 20th anniverary. While the Scottish contingent spoke of friendships old and new and more `parochial` matters the Villeneuve mayor spoke of the bigger European picture and the relationships between countries.

Both approaches of course have their place.


Just one PS on the trip. The Saturday night was the big Gala Dinner - but was also the night France played England in the semi finals of the rugby World Cup. Villeneuve you must remember is in the rugby playing region. First course came, then the next. . . . Just over an hour later, as the hands on the clock approached quarter to eleven the main course finally arrived - the entire kitchen staff had been watching the game! Shame about the result.

RUSSIAN ABOUT

There`s on thing about being a councillor - life`s full of variety. One minute you`re on the phone trying to sort out a problem for a constituent, the next you are mixing with the Russian navy!

A couple of weeks ago the Russians landed. At the same time there was some miltary fluttering as Russian MIGs were spotted coming into UK air space and the RAF were sent up to escort them off limits. I was tempted to call up the Ministry of Defence and tell them they were too late - the Russians were already here in South Ayrshire! But seriously it was impressive and moving to see how important the unveiling of the memorial of the Varyag was to the Russians. They sent newspaper reportes and TV crew to South Ayrshire to beam the story live to their nation.

At the same time it was disappointing to see how our national press and TV failed to cover the ceremony. Not a line appeared in any national newspaper that I saw. Obviously they had to get their priorities right and the Saturday sports fixtures took up all their reserves! Fortunately the local press, particularly the Carrick Gazette, more than made up for that lack of interest.

The Russians were courteous and highly entertaining visitors who boosted the local economy that weekend. Though I couldn`t help but notice how many of them smoked. If our ban had not been in place maybe I wouldn`t have noticed - but at least the few councillors who haven`t managed to give up the weed had plenty of company outside the marquee at Lendalfoot shore.

Since then the council has been hitting the headlines for less celebratory reasons. Unlike the `source` who has been leaking like a sieve to the press I can`t write about the events surrounding the future of our Chief Executive Tom Cairns as I am bound by confidentiality. A tad frustrating position for the journalist in me (if I`m honest) - for three years ago in my former life as a newspaper editor I would have been looking for every leak to make headlines. The drawback of being poacher turned gamekeeper!

To end this entry I must bring you up to date on the `Balamory` houses in Straiton. I have seen the map and strangely enough the Knockbreck Road does lie outwith the conservation boundary of the village. However I believe it wasn`t the boundary that kept housing design in line before but the reboubtable Jamie Hunter-Blair of Blairquhan. Since his death there has not been the same interest from the estate. However I thought you`d also be interested in knowing some the the thinking behind the technicolour paintwork on the Ayrshire Housing homes. At some national conference the theory was put forward that people would more easily recognise their home by door colour rather than number. I think maybe they were thinking of the elderly and maybe perhaps those in the early stages of dementia, but I guess it will also come in handy after a night at the Black Bull!

Fairness and protection for the rurual areas

`It`s like something out of Balamory ………. That`s the words used by a constituent who contacted me about the new Ayrshire Housing homes going up in Straiton. `Certainly they`re not right for a conservation village`, he continued.

I must say I was expecting something like the colourful façade of Tobermory when I went up to see the new affordable houses at Straiton – and while they`re not quite as `vibrant`, the homes at Knockbreck Road have something of the holiday chalet look about them rather than permanent new homes.

Not the fabric of the building I hasten to add. The houses are in keeping with the style of a rural community, the roofs are slate - but the doors and window frames are painted in the bright primary colours – reds, green, yellows, blues. They stick out like a sore thumb. I was looking for the sign saying `Welcome to Straiton holiday complex`.

I contacted the head of planning, showed him pictures and pointed out that surely these colours were inappropriate and not in keeping with the strict conservation status of Stration .But I was wrong. Apparently that`s all right. They could be technicolour stripes if Ayrshire Homes so fancied. For while everyone else in Straiton is restricted in what they can do with their houses, having to stick by strict planning procedures, the Ayrshire Housing homes apparently fall outwith the conservation village status. There`s nothing the planners can do. The multi-coloured windows and doors can stay

I did suggest to the planning director a discreet word in the ear of the developers might encourage a change of hue, something more in keeping with the ambience of one of South Ayrshire`s most beautiful villages. I wait with interest to see if anything is done.

However the new residents of the Knockbreck Road houses are luckier than a lot of folk. They have houses .For affordable housing – or the lack of it - promises to be the political hot potato of the next decade for councillors and MSPs.

Labour`s new leader Wendy Alexander said last week said that she was `taken back` during her whistle-stop-getting-to-know-the-people tour to find the strength of feeling across Scotland about the lack of affordable housing. What planet has she been living on? The answer to that of course is in the cushy cushioned political planet that is Holyrood where our political masters (of all hues) lose sight of some of the major issues.. Like SNP housing Minister Stewart Maxwell when unveiling the new government`s bold solution who talked of another `consultation` with `stakeholders`. More words rather than actions.

It is time for councils and the Scottish government to grasp this nettle and simply build more houses.- ones that people can afford. It is nice to have beautiful estates with homes at £500,000 plus, but the majority of young folk, even some professionals, can`t afford a kennel never mind a luxury detached mansion. They can`t get onto the property ladder. We need to build ourselves out of this rapidly growing crisis.

We on South Ayrshire Council are committed to building affordable homes – and that is certainly something I will be fighting for. This is something we CAN do – but we need the political will from Edinburgh and of course more money to pay for the building.
We need to keep our communities vibrant and keep our young people here in South Ayrshire where their skills are needed.

Holidays over

What a time to choose to go to the Cotswalds. However I got home before the total deluge – and straight into a row about hall booking fees.

Someone who shall be nameless ( literally as no one is admitting responsibility) sent out a letter to Maybole community groups saying that their charges for using the Town Hall were going to rocket.In some cases this meant going from paying nothing to £8 an hour.

Understandably uproar followed. Groups from pensioners who play carpet bowls to the Brownies could see a bleak future ahead; Cathie Jamieson MSP visited the town giving them her support; a meeting was called for last Monday night.

In the role of Daniel was Pat Whelan – the council officer in charge of the department which sent out the offending letter. The `lions` were representatives of all the local groups who use the hall and understandable they were raring for a fight.

Pat Whelan had to admit that the letter should never have been sent out – and told everyone there to ignore what they had been told . It was back to square one.

He explained that different halls are charged at different rates throughout South Ayrshire and they were trying to get a system in place where all are treated equally. And hall charges will in fact come before the Leadership Panel of the council at the end of August.

From there, any decisions they make will go before the Community Services Scrutiny Panel – which will do `as it says on the tin` - scrutinise the decision and decide if it`s fair. The good news for Maybole is that three of the four members of that panel are local councillors, Brian Connelly, Sandra Goldie and myself and if we weren`t aware of it before, after last week`s meeting we certainly know now how important a role the Town Hall plays in local life.

And we know it must be affordable.

The main thing for now is that the price hike as been put on hold, autumn classes and groups can put their programmes in place – they are not going to be priced out at the end of August.

What about the future? We need to wait and see, but be assured the local councillors will be fighting to keep the hall open and accessible to everyone.