Restore Ayr beach to its former glory
Flaming heck . . . it’s Flaming June already! Miserable May finally gave way to the first real sunshine of summer – and South Ayrshire was basking in it!
At Ayr beach on Sunday, the level twos were mingling happily with the level three infiltrators from Weegieland.
Double jabbers didn’t give a Pfizer that the sun lounger on the sand next to theirs was occupied by single jabbers. And the great un-jabbed?
Well, they hid their cans of lager and cider from the mounted police patrolling the shore – just like they do every sunny bank holiday weekend!
Some of us like to mump and moan about the town many of us call home.And yes – this page is no stranger to it either. But last weekend – Sunday and Monday in particular – with the sun glowing and the blue sky merging magically into the Firth of Clyde, Auld Ayr was pretty hard to beat! Hard to beat – yes – but not beyond improvement. Blackburn car park was the expected carnage and chaos. With access and egress from both Seafield and the Esplanade, drivers ended up blocking both as they searched for a random parking bay. Back in the day, the wearing of a white coat was enough to empower one man over the hundreds of arriving motorists.
With a wave of his hand, the car park filled itself in some preordained uniformity with almost military precision. And without a hint of dissent. Today, those that didn’t run over the old codger’s toes would just completely ignore him and park where they liked.
Sunny bank holiday weekends are not exactly unpredictable.
The BBC’s weather girl promised us a “bank holiday min-heatwave” ten days ago.
Is it beyond the wit of someone to ask any traffic wardens we have left to stop hounding the High Street shopper and start helping the day tripper find responsible and legal parking? My travels took me to the top of the hill at Greenan Castle with the sweep of Ayr Bay revealed in all its splendour.
South Ayrshire Council could do worse than convene one of its socially distanced meetings up there – just to remind them of what a jewel they have in their custody.
Their current strategy appears to be increasing entertainment facilities at the beach . . . where most people come to swim.
And building some sort of swimming facility in the town centre . . . where most people come to be entertained. With an alleged £40 million in the council kitty for the above – a quarter of that sum would adequately overhaul and improve the existing Citadel leisure centre to the highest expectation of any bathers. And with the £30 million in change – work could start in creating facilities that could restore Ayr to its former glory as the premier beach resort in Scotland.
Ayr’s new town centre swimming pool and a new yacht marina both featured in the SNP’s local election manifesto in 2017.
What a shame – and a so far an inexplicable shame – that they’ve opted to plough ahead with a facility we already have . . . and ignore the opportunity of a facility that’s badly needed and would be widely welcomed. From Greenan, my faithful velocipede took me to the end of the pier – roughly where that new yacht marina might have been built. The view out to Arran, over to Ailsa Craig and along the beach is magnificent. But landwards, the flats that occupy the north end of the beach remain as unlikeable and incongruous as ever. No harm to their current residents – they weren’t sitting on South Ayrshire Council’s planning committee when these were nodded through some decades ago. And to be fair to the current South Ayrshire Council – all they did was inherit them. But they remain lasting monuments – and sadly, very long lasting – to an era when short term gain – housing and money – were put before the long term aspirations of an unrivalled seaside tourist town.
The more I think about it, the more I’m thinking our council really should make that trip to Greenan.
Clearly visible are Ayr Station Hotel, the Riverside high flats, Alloway Street, the High Street, the Citadel, the Low Green and Seafield golf course. They are all in SAC’s development “sights”.
What that 2021 view will be like in 2031 – and probably 2121 – will depend on decisions made in the next 12 months of this council’s remaining term. Ayr has plenty of room for all kind of things.
But error isn’t one of them.