South Ayrshire

South Ayrshire
Structure
Seats	30 councillors
Conservatives	10 / 30
SNP	9 / 30
Labour	9 / 30
Independents	2 / 30
Lib Dems	0 / 30
Elections
Voting system	Single transferable vote
Last election	3 May 2012
Website
south-ayrshire.gov.uk

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.

The administrative boundaries were formed in 1996, and is a direct successor to the Kyle and Carrick district.

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

Despite only making up a fraction of the council area Ayr, Prestwick and Troon have a combined population of 76,846- 68.13% of the South Ayrshire's total population. The surrounding rural area of Kyle and Carrick has a population of 35,953 – this accounts for 31.87% of South Ayrshire's population. A list of settlements in South Ayrshire may be found below:

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

Mainholm Academy
Good Shepherd Primary
Newton Academy

Politics

Local Government

Main article: South Ayrshire Council election, 2012

Party		Members
Party		2007	2012
•	Conservative	12	10
	SNP	8	9
•	Labour	9	9
	Independent	1	2

Councillor composition

A list of South Ayrshire councillors may be found below, sorted by political party:

Conservative (10): Bill McIntosh (Leader of the Council) Margaret Toner, Mary Kilpatrick (Depute Provost) 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) Phil Saxton, Helen Moonie (Provost), Ian Cavana, Andy Campbell, Sandra Goldie, Rita Miller, Kirsty Darwent and Brian McGinley.
Independent (2): Brian Connolly and Alec Clark.

Ward	Councillors
Troon	Peter Convery	Scottish Conservative Party
	Bill McIntosh (Leader of the Council)	Scottish Conservative Party
	Nan McFarlane	Scottish National Party
	Phil Saxton	Scottish Labour Party
Prestwick	Hugh Hunter	Scottish Conservative Party
	Margaret Toner	Scottish Conservative Party
	Ian Cochrane	Scottish National Party
	Helen Moonie (Provost)	Scottish Labour Party
Ayr North	Ian Cavana	Scottish Labour Party
	Rita Miller	Scottish Labour Party
	Douglas Campbell	Scottish National Party
	John Hampton	Scottish Conservative Party
Ayr East	Ian Douglas	Scottish National Party
	John Wallace^[1]	Scottish National Party
	Mary Kilpatrick (Depute Provost)	Scottish Conservative Party
	Brian Ginley	Scottish Labour Party
Ayr West	Bill Grant	Scottish Conservative Party
	Robin Reid	Scottish Conservative Party
	Allan Hopkins Dorans (Group Leader)	Scottish National Party
	Kirsty Darwent	Scottish Labour Party
Kyle	Andy Campbell	Scottish Labour Party
	John Allan	Scottish National Party
	Hywel Davies	Scottish Conservative Party
Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton	Brian Connolly	Independent
	Sandra Goldie	Scottish Labour Party
	Ann Galbraith	Scottish Conservative Party
	William James Grant	Scottish National Party
Girvan and South Carrick	Alec Clark	Independent
	Alec Oattes	Scottish National Party
	John Dowall (Group Leader)	Scottish Labour Party

Westminster

South Ayrshire forms part of 2 Westminster constituencies, listed below:

Constituency	Member	Party
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock	Corri Wilson		Scottish National Party
Central Ayrshire	Philippa Whitford		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		Scottish Conservative Party
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	Jeane Freeman		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
South Scotland	Joan McAlpine	Scottish National
	Emma Harper	Scottish National
	Paul Wheelhouse	Scottish National
	Rachel Hamilton	Conservative
	Brian Whittle	Conservative
	Claudia Beamish	Labour
	Colin Smyth	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 of 32 local council areas in Scotland. With a turnout of 86.1%, there was 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 part of the United Kingdom.^[2]

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. In November 2005 the leader of the Labour group Andy Hill resigned on the grounds of ill-health,^[3] 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.
↑ Innes, John (29 November 2005). "Ayrshire council leader quits over health". The Scotsman (Edinburgh).

External links

Official website
South Ayrshire at DMOZ

Council areas of Scotland

Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute Clackmannanshire Dumfries and Galloway Dundee East Ayrshire East Dunbartonshire East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh Falkirk Fife Glasgow Highland Inverclyde Midlothian Moray Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles) North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire Orkney Perth and Kinross Renfrewshire Scottish Borders Shetland South Ayrshire South Lanarkshire Stirling West Dunbartonshire West Lothian

List by area, population, density

South Ayrshire

Towns	Ayr Girvan Maybole Prestwick Troon

Villages	Annbank Ballantrae Barr Colmonell Coylton Dailly Dundonald Dunure Kirkmichael Kirkoswald Loans Monkton Mossblown Old Dailly Straiton Symington Tarbolton Trabboch

Other settlements and suburbs	Ayr: Alloway Belmont Doonfoot Forehill Fort Heathfield Kincaidston Seafield Troon: Barassie Coylton: Joppa

Scottish Parliament	Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley

UK Parliament	Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Central Ayrshire

See Also	Carrick Kyle Kyle and Carrick Strathclyde South Ayrshire Council election (2012)

Neighbouring council areas: East Ayrshire North Ayrshire Dumfries and Galloway

Carrick

Settlements	Former burghs Ballantrae Girvan Maybole Others Auchencrosh Balkissock Bargany Barr Colmonell Crosshill Dailly Drumshang Dunure Greenan Kirkmichael Kirkoswald Maidens Minishant Old Dailly Patna Pinmore Pinwherry Smyrton Straiton

Administration	National subdivisions Ayrshire and Arran lieutenancy area Carrick earldom Kyle and Carrick local government district Sheriffdom and County of Ayr South Ayrshire Council area Parliamentary seats (Scotland) Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Parliamentary seats (UK) Ayrshire (1708–1868) South Ayrshire (1868–1983) Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (1983–2005) Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (2005–)

Culture	Gaelic in Carrick and Galloway Sawney Bean

Geography	Islands Ailsa Craig Lochs Craigdow Loch Loch Bradan Loch Doon Loch Dornal Loch Finloch Loch Goosey Loch Spaig Loch Spallander Loch Spouts Rivers River Doon River Stinchar Water of App Water of Girvan Water of Tig

History	Heritage sites Blairquhan Castle Crossraguel Abbey Culzean Castle Dinvin Motte Dunduff Castle Dunure Castle Glenapp Castle Greenan Castle Kirkoswald Parish Church Knockdolian Maybole Collegiate Church Penkill Castle Turnberry Castle People Abbots of Crossraguel Clan Kennedy Earls or mormaers of Carrick Marquesses of Ailsa and their predecessors

Sport	Girvan F.C. Maybole F.C. Turnberry golf course

Transport	Railway lines Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway Maybole and Girvan Railway Railway stations Barrhill railway station Girvan railway station Maybole railway station Roads A77 A714

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