Another nail in Ayr’s coffin

It would appear that the local council are hell- bent on destroying Ayr. The rise in parking charges is just another nail in the coffin.

Ayr used to be a thriving holiday spot.. people are not coming in because it’s dirty and derelict.

Maybe if the council stopped wasting money on grand schemes and got back to basics the town might survive.

Diane Murray

Innovative parking

There have been several articles on car parking charges within South Ayrshire and wondered what people would think of the following idea – should car parking charges need to be enforced.

Parking charges could be kept low and the tickets could be issued with a detachable portion that could be submitted to named shops that would refund or part refund the ticket charge after purchasing items to the agreed amount mentioned on the ticket.

Let us say for example a parking refund of £ 1 will be given once items have been purchased to an amount of £ 10.

- This will allow the Council to bring in money.

- The driver will get a refund.

- Shops named will get customers. I realise that this is an over simplified example but I hope you get my drift.

Looking forward to hearing what people think about the idea.

Linda Lunan

Parking charges confusion

So it seems that it is not just the public that are confused about car parking but councillors as well.

On one hand, we have Troon SNP councillor Craig Mackay recently telling the community council that

two of the three Troon shore car parks would not be included in the charging proposals , yet according to a council spokesperson all three are to be included in the TRO traffic regulation order sparking a wave of rage in Prestwick.

I would suggest that people should wait for the TRO proposal to be published to see what is contained in it.

The parking charges issue is becoming a farce.

As far I know the charges that will be introduced in Ayr on July 2 are published as follows on street parking in zones 1 and 2 will be percentage rises of 33.33% to 66.66% depending on length of stay, and for the car parks on both Kyle Street and Barns Crescent the percentage rises based on length of stay range from 11.1% to 48.14%, and Charlotte Street hikes from 11.1% to 50% depending on length of stay.

However what will incense people more is the cost of residents parking Zone B which costs residents in certain streets in Ayr ... 50p per annum for two parking permits one of which they can give to someone visiting them.

However based on the fact that a disabled person has to pay a £ 20 administration processing fee to renew their blue badge, I assume the administration processes are the same fort the residents parking permits

That means that for every residents’ parking permit issued the council will lose money.

Now if your readers will recall this whole situation was kicked off when the council published its budget proposal in December 2017, and the proposal contained in their own budget papers read: “Introduce new charges for” parking in council car parks that are currently free of charge, where it should have read introduce new charges in council car parks that are currently free to the public.

So I would suggest that the charging proposals be scrapped or introduced in all council car parks in line with what was proposed in the budget proposals in December 2017.

Ian Stewart 83 Thorny flat Road Ayr

Councillors no show

As a resident I attend Alloway and Doonfoot Community, which I find very helpful as the members of the Community Council do really good work in identifying and addressing local issues for the benefit of local people in Ward 5.

I attended the community council meeting on Tuesday June 6 and discovered that this was the third community council in three months, where none of the local Conservative councillors, Cllrs Martin Dowey, Lee Lyons or Derek McCabe were in attendance.

To miss one or even two meetings might be understandable or excusable, but for not one of the three Conservative Councillors to show up three months in a row is surely a dereliction of their duty as Local Elected Members for Ayr West.

Perhaps if a photo call is arranged for the next community council meeting on September 5, after the summer recess maybe one or two of the three Tory councillors might be encouraged to attend.

Alec Oattes. 7 Lindston Place, Ayr