South Ayrshire
Template:Infobox Scotland council area
South Ayrshire | |
|---|---|
| Structure | |
| Seats | 30 councillors |
10 / 30 | |
9 / 30 | |
9 / 30 | |
2 / 30
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0 / 30 | |
| Elections | |
| Single transferable vote | |
Last election | 3 May 2012 |
| Website | |
| south-ayrshire | |
South Ayrshire (Scots: Sooth Ayrshire; Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Inbhir Àir a Deas, pronounced [ʃirˠəxk iɲiˈɾʲaːɾʲ ə tʲes̪]) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. South Ayrshire Council is a Conservative controlled council. The administrative boundaries were formed in 1996 as a direct successor to the Kyle and Carrick district council area, with the district of Dalmellington - located along the south-east of Kyle and Carrick - being transferred over to the newly formed East Ayrshire Council area.
The Conservative Party currently lead a minority administration in South Ayrshire, with Bill McIntosh as Leader of the Council and Labour's Helen Moonie as Provost. They are working within a partnership agreement with the Labour Party, supported by both Independents.
County Buildings
South Ayrshire's Headquarters, "County Buildings", are located in Wellington Square, Ayr. The buildings were built in 1931 on the site of Ayr Jail and opened by King George VI. At the front of the buildings is Ayr Sheriff Court which was built as the original county buildings in 1822.
Towns and villages
South Ayrshire's population is mostly concentrated around the adjoining coastal towns of Ayr, Prestwick and Troon located to the north-west of the council, which represents 68% of the council's total population according to data derived from the 2011 census, with a combined population of 76,846. Other areas of significance include the towns of Maybole and Girvan which are located to the south of the council area in the district of Carrick.
A list of settlements in South Ayrshire may be found below:
Towns
Villages and Hamlets
- Alloway (Suburb of Ayr)
- Annbank
- Ballantrae
- Barassie (Suburb of Troon)
- Barr
- Barrhill
- Colmonell
- Coodham
- Coylton
- Crosshill
- Dailly
- Dundonald
- Dunure
- Joppa (Suburb of Coylton)
- Kirkmichael
- Kirkoswald
- Lendalfoot
- Loans
- Maidens
- Maybole
- Monkton
- Mossblown
- Old Dailly
- Pinmore
- Pinwherry
- Straiton
- Symington
- Tarbolton
- Turnberry
Places of interest
- Ailsa Craig
- Bachelor's Club, Tarbolton
- Bargany Gardens
- Blairquhan
- Burns Cottage
- Burns National Heritage Park (Robert Burns)
- Carrick Forest
- Crossraguel Abbey
- Culzean Castle
- Electric Brae
- Penkill Castle
- Souter Johnnie's Cottage
Education
Secondary schools
| School | School roll | Opened | Area served | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ayr Academy | 715 | 1880 | Annbank, Coylton, Dalmilling (Ayr), Mossblown, Newton-on-Ayr (Ayr), Wallacetown (Ayr) | Scotland's oldest secondary school |
| Belmont Academy | 1455 | New School Opened August 2008 | Alloway (Ayr), Braehead (Ayr), Craigie (Ayr), Doonfoot (Ayr), Seafield (Ayr), Holmston (Ayr), Kincaidston (Ayr), south Belmont (Ayr), south Castlehill (Ayr), Tarbolton, Whitletts (Ayr) | 6th largest school in Scotland |
| Carrick Academy | 554 | 1926 | Maybole and North Carrick | Present buildings built in 1974 |
| Girvan Academy | 660 | Girvan and South Carrick | ||
| Kyle Academy | 902 | 1979 | Ayr Fort (Ayr), Forehill (Ayr), Old Belmont (Ayr), Masonhill (Ayr) | |
| Marr College | 1233 | 1935 | Dundonald, Loans, Troon | Funded by money left by CK Marr |
| Queen Margaret Academy | 662 | 1977 | Roman Catholic pupils in South Ayrshire | Only Roman Catholic school in South Ayrshire |
| Prestwick Academy | 1200 | 1902 | Heathfield (Ayr), Monkton, Prestwick, Woodfield (Ayr) |
Closed schools
Politics
Local Government
| Party | Members | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995† | 1999† | 2003† | 2007 | 2012 | ||
| bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" align="center"|• | Conservative | 4 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 10 |
| bgcolor="Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" align="center" width="5"| | SNP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 9 |
| bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|• | Labour | 21 | 17 | 15 | 9 | 9 |
| bgcolor="Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" align="center"|• | Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
† denotes an election held under the first-past-the-post electoral system. Elections held after this point were conducted under the single transferable vote, a form of proportional representation allowing for fairer representation of minority parties.
Councillor composition
A list of South Ayrshire councillors may be found below, sorted by political party:
- Conservative (10): Bill McIntosh (Leader of the Council), Mary Kilpatrick (Depute Provost), Margaret Toner, Peter Convery, Hugh Hunter, John Hampton, Bill Grant, Robin Reid, Ann Galbraith and Hywel Davies.
- Scottish National Party (9): Allan Dorans JP (Group Leader), Nan McFarlane, Douglas Campbell, William Grant, Ian Douglas, John Allan, Ian Cochrane, Alec Oattes and John Wallace.
- Labour (9): John McDowall (Group Leader), Helen Moonie (Provost), Phil Saxton, Ian Cavana, Andy Campbell, Sandra Goldie, Rita Miller, Kirsty Darwent and Brian McGinley.
- Independent (2): Brian Connolly and Alec Clark.
Westminster
South Ayrshire forms part of 2 Westminster constituencies, listed below:
| Constituency | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock | Corri Wilson | style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" | | Scottish National Party |
| Central Ayrshire | Philippa Whitford | style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" | | Scottish National Party |
Scottish Parliament
Constituency MSPs
South Ayrshire forms part of 2 Scottish Parliamentary constituency seats, listed below:
| Constituency | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ayr | John Scott | style="background-color: Template:Scottish Conservative Party/meta/color" | | Scottish Conservative Party |
| Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley | Jeane Freeman | style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" | | Scottish National Party |
Regional List MSPs
As part of the South Scotland electoral region, South Ayrshire is represented by 7 regional MSPs who are elected to represent the entire South Scotland region – all regional list MSPs elected for the South Scotland region are listed below:
| Constituency | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Scotland | Joan McAlpine | bgcolor="Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color"| | Scottish National |
| Emma Harper | bgcolor="Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" | | Scottish National | |
| Paul Wheelhouse | bgcolor="Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color"| | Scottish National | |
| Rachel Hamilton | bgcolor="Template:Scottish Conservative Party/meta/color" | | Conservative | |
| Brian Whittle | bgcolor="Template:Scottish Conservative Party/meta/color" | | Conservative | |
| Claudia Beamish | bgcolor="Template:Scottish Labour Party/meta/color"| | Labour | |
| Colin Smyth | bgcolor="Template:Scottish Labour Party/meta/color" | | Labour | |
Scottish independence referendum
At the 2014 Scottish independence referendum South Ayrshire rejected independence by a margin of 57.9% "No" to 42.1% "Yes" alongside 28 out of 32 local council areas in Scotland. With a turnout of 86.1%, there were 34,402 "Yes" votes and 47,247 "No" votes. Nationally 55.3% of voters voted "No" in the referendum compared to 44.7%, who voted "Yes" – resulting in Scotland remaining a devolved part of the United Kingdom.[2]
European Union membership referendum
At the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum a majority of voters in South Ayrshire voted for the United Kingdom to remain a member of the European Union (EU), with 59% of voters in South Ayrshire voting for the United Kingdom to remain a member of the EU and 41% voting for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. With a turnout of 69.8%, 36,265 votes were cast for remain and 25,241 were cast for leave. Nationally, 62% of Scottish voters voted remain whilst 38% voted leave, with 51.8% of voters in the United Kingdom as a whole voting to leave and 48.2% voting to remain.
Previous elections
The council elections in May 2003 resulted in a "hung" council where both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party had 15 seats. Control of the council was nominally given to the Labour party after a "cutting of the cards", though such an unstable arrangement had a detrimental effect on the decision-making process.[3] In November 2005 the leader of the Labour group Andy Hill resigned on the grounds of ill-health,[4] allowing the Conservatives to govern with a 15–14 majority until the 2007 election. Gibson MacDonald became Leader of the Council with Robin Reid as Deputy Leader.
References
- ^ http://www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/by-election/
- ^ "Referendum 2014". Retrieved 8 August 2015.
- ^ 'Scottish Council Elections 2003'
- ^ Innes, John (29 November 2005). "Ayrshire council leader quits over health". The Scotsman. Edinburgh.
External links
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