Chairperson Report - April 2007

Allow Me Firstly To Thank You All For Another 12 Months Of Continued Support And Hard Work.These Months Seem To Fly Past And They Do Say The Harder You Work The Faster They Go. Well This Must Certainly Be The Case For All Of Us Trying To Better Our Community For The Sake Of Our Residents And Commercial Friends.

For Example The Unrelenting Battle With The Ever Present Issues Of The Sea Front And I Am Afraid To Say Its Not The Seagulls In This Instant, But The Complaints Were About Some Youths In The Town Running Amok, Abusing Alcohol And Urinating In Our Public Places.

Not Only This.Which Is Significant Enough But Not Having A Public Convenience For Use Of Those Who Do Wish To Spend A Penny,This Was Quite Appalling When You Compare The Wonderful Sea Front We Have Down There To Other Lesser Towns In The Area . Naturally It Goes Without Saying How Pleased The Townsfolk Are For The Constant Vigilance Of The Community Councillors And The Very Timely Assistance Of The Community Police. And The Toilet Situation Has Been Addressed By Councillor Toner And Also The Repairs To The Sea Wall And Other Damage To The Esplanade After The Recent Storms.

Wouldn't It Be Great To Think We Could Revive The Ailing Seafront To Its Former Glory Of The 60's And 70' when It Was A Pleasure To Go Down To The Beach And Laze Away The Whole Day With Your Family Although I Do Suspect We Have Long Since Seen The Disappearance Of The Grand Tearoom, Shop, Outdoor Pool And The Wonderful Paddling Pool For The Wee Ones.I Can See No Reason Why Prestwick Will Not Regain Its Title For Cleanliness And Fun (With Facilities, Naturally) Whatever Happens Prestwick's Beautiful Seafront Must Always Be One Of Our First Priorities.

On To Other Matters, You May Remember Some Years Ago The First Major Conversions Started Happening In Prestwick Main Street When The Old Town Hall Was Converted Into Flats- Rather Sympathetically At The Time. But Alas With The Progress And Advances In Architecture Some Owners Want To Sweep Into Prestwick Along With The 2ist Century Without Aknowledging Its History.Whilst This May Not Be A Bad Thing In Some Aspects It Worry's Me And Many Of Our Residents When The Actual Character Of Our Town Is Being Eroded Or So It Would Seem. 1ndeed.Part Of The Character Of Prestwick Is Its Unique Sandstone Shop Fronts And The Small Town Feel.We Have Many Old Buildings Which Would Be A Crime To Lose Because Of Progress.Whilst We As Community Councillors Cannot Profess To All The Answers On How To Marry Modernism With Tradition, We Must Ask The Question What Can Be Done To Save The Prestwick We Know.

The Answer Is Here In Part -A New Project For 2007/2008. We Have Written To Historic Scotland For The Listings For Prestwick And 1 Have Had A Very Productive Talk With Our Local Historian Mr Alister Cochrane. I Also Know That One Of Our Own Local Councillors Is Very Keen To Assist Us In Our Quest To Protect Our Wonderful Historic Town, So Armed With This Information And Assistance We May Be Able To Halt Some Progress Unbefitting To Our Town And Retain The Character Of Prestwick.

To Bear In Mind For The Future Is The Question Of Night Clubs, Casino And Gaming Locations Which Reared Its Head In 2006. As You May Remember Many Of Our Residents Raised Their Concerns On This Front And We Also. I Do Feel That This Is Not An Issue That Will Melt Into The Background Perminantly. But One We Shall Have To Monitor And Keep On Top Of With Fortitude, And Commitment To The Future.

On The Subject Of Prestwtck's Younger Generation, We Would Ask Them To Keep Faith With Us. We Are Very Mindful Of Their Future And That Of Their Children. The Community Councillors Are Still Working Extremely Hard To Realise Our Ambition For Prestwick Euro Activity Park,[ Peap ].We Want Prestwick To Have One Of The Foremost Parks In The Country.A Facility That Is Fit For European Competion.The Community Councillors Who Are Heading This High Profile Project Have Already Started Their Work With The Churches,Police,Education Officers And Local Business To Form A Committee Outwith The Community Council To Get The Project Well And Truly Off The Ground. They Are Currently Working On The All Important Constitution Which Will Commence The Start Of Many Grant Applications, The First One Enabling The Drilling Of Bore Holes In The Land Chosen To Ensure Its Suitability.

Next Came Our" Lets Get Together And Have A Litter Pick Day ".

From Our Point Of View It Was Without Doubt A Truly Fantastic And Successful Day, We The Community Councillors. Councillor Toner.Councillor Hunter Also Mrs Smillie From Troon Left Our Patch Well And Truly Picked Clean And Twinkling. Smiles Of Smug Satisfaction Were Abounding Of A Job Well Done. It Was However A Great Pity That The Department Of Environment Of South Ayrshire Council Saw Fit To Let Their Side Down.They Did Not Produce Their Promised Gum Cleaning Machine Nor The Gum Boards For Outside Of Retail Premises.We Can But Hope With A Reminder And A Big Nudge From Us That They May Yet Come Up Trumps In 2007.
As For Our Health And Welfare This Is Closely Monitored By Another Of Our Community Councillors Added To Which He Also Keeps The Airport Under Very Close Scrutiny So We Are Kept Fully Informed Of Present And Future Happenings.

And Finally, No Really It Is This Time. I Will Close This Lengthy Tome Of A Report For Which I Proffer No Apology As It Clearly Demonstrates Just How Much Hard Work Has Gone Into Our Community For 2006. We Have Taken Great Care And Time To Listen To Our Residents, Who Show Us Great Respect By Entrusting Us With Their Concerns. More Importantly Though Is That We Act Upon It And Try So Very Hard To Bring Changes That They Want To See For Prestwick.

I Really Cannot Think Of A Better Place To Live Than Prestwick And Now I Would Like To Offer My Sincere Thanks To All Of The People Who Have Helped Us Over The Past Year, To Prestwick Community Police Who Really Do Work Hard Against All Crime Large And Small .To South Ayrshire Councillors For Their Help And Timely Advice Throughout The Year, And Not To Forget Our Sac Officer Mr Malcolm Mcgaskill Who Keeps Us All On The Straight And Narrow, And To My Fellow Community Councillors Once Again My Heartfelt Thanks For All Your Hard Work.