Leisure centre critics blasted by McGinley
Deputy insists £45m facility is value for money
The depute leader of South Ayrshire Council has challenged critics of the new Ayr leisure centre to back up their opinions with hard evidence.
There has been vocal opposition to the leisure centre and the broader regeneration plans in recent weeks.
The focus has largely been on the location of the centre, the removal of a sports hall from the proposals, the recently approved plan for the former Woolworths site and parking in the town.
Now councillor Brian McGinley has challenged those critics to provide evidence, while citing a range of national studies he says backs up the Ayr regeneration plan.
This includes evidence provided to the UK Government’s Housing, Community and Local Government committee and the independent Centre for Cities group.
Cllr McGinley said: “I would like to challenge the critics of the council’s approach to town centre regeneration because it is based on academic, government and professional evidence.
“This cannot be ignored. Anyone who has another views must back these up.
“Otherwise, they lack any credibility and are open to challenge of superficial understanding and political opportunism.
“All the evidence and
consultation that we have carried out confirms that the proposal to provide new high quality sports and leisure facilities in Ayr town centre is robust and provides value for money.
“The proposals will bring the council’s sporting facilities up to date and to a comparable standard to other modern sports facilities found across Scotland.”
A number of councils and retailers provided their views on the way forward for town centres to the Housing, Community and Local Government committee in 2019.
Many of these local authorities had been working on programmes that provided a similar mix of leisure, retail and cultural attractions to the Ayr proposals.
In his independent review of town centres, William Grimsey said “the 21st century town is about an activity-based community gathering place”.
He stated that “retail is not the main anchor any more for the 21st century, and it needs to be replaced with other activities”
This was echoed by retailers. Tony Ginty of Marks and Spencer, one of the few big stores operating in Ayr, said: “Town centres cannot rely on retailing as they have done in the past.
“They will only succeed in the future if they get the right balance between retailing, leisure, hospitality, health, social care, services and indeed the residential links.”
Councillor McGinley outlined an approach largely following this approach.
He continued: “A move to the town centre would provide a catalyst for the regeneration of the Arran Mall and Hourstons whilst also generating much needed additional footfall and economic vitality for the town centre.
“This project is a key element of our plan to regenerate Ayr Town Centre which, together with the Kyle Centre Development, will create a leisure and recreation zone in the middle section of the high street.
“That would see the transformation of an area currently occupied by the Arran Mall and Kyle Centre into a complex offering sports, cinema, dining and recreation day and night creating a bustling town centre for people to live, work and shop”.
He also had a dig at politicians who he says are not viewing the plan in a ‘strategic’ way.
He said the ‘best politicians are those strategic leaders with a passion to improve the town centre situation’.
Cllr McGinley added: “We do not need elected representatives to rubbish decisions in public but fail to use the formal processes open to them to formally challenge these proposals. “