Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Kevin Dyson

Scotland Secretary Alister Jack encourages councils to have another go at levelling up bids for Kilmarnock and Ayr

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has encouraged East and South Ayrshire Councils to have another shot at levelling up funds

South Ayrshire missed out on £20m funding for leisure and regeneration plans, including the refurbishment of the Citadel and other town centre works.

And while East Ayrshire Council was successful with its bid for Kilmarnock's cultural quarter project, a second bid for improvements to the Bellfield Interchange was not.

During a visit to the Palace Theatre to announce the funding, Mr Jack told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he actively encouraged both authorities to 'fine tune' their bids and return for the third round of the levelling up scheme.

He said: "There is another round coming, so they should look at their bid and fine tune it.

"I would absolutely encourage them to do that as I would with any local authorities who missed out today.

"A number of those who were successful today, missed out in round one, so absolutely, come back again."

Scottish Secretary with EAC Chief Executive Eddie Fraser (East Ayrshire Council)

Mr Jack spoke positively about the ambitious plans for Kilmarnock.

He said: "It is a very exciting initiative, with £20m going in from the UK Government, with £10m in match funding.

"It is a great bid."

South Ayrshire Council Leader Martin Dowey said the council would be looking at the reasons for the unsuccessful bid, but insisted that the council was still looking at regeneration without that resource.

He said: “We are disappointed not to receive anything from the levelling up fund round two, and we await the reasons behind the decisions.

"In the meantime, we are set to announce some major regeneration and community focused projects following the setting of the Council budget in March.”

East Ayrshire Council pointed out that a lot of work has been carried out on the plans for the Bellfield Interchange, but that they would have to look at the feasibility of plans without levelling up support.

East Ayrshire Councillors (l-r) Claire Maitland, John McFadzean, Leader Douglas Reid, Alister Jack, Maureen McKay and Depute leader Jim McMaho. (East Ayrshire Council)

A spokesperson said: "The Bellfield Interchange was included in the application process as it was recognised as having significant capacity and safety challenges that need to be addressed to support strategic development and investment locally.

"The Ayrshire Roads Alliance developed options for improvements to journey times, allowing for increased capacity and delivering safety improvements.

"This included introducing traffic lights, removing hard verges to increase the road width to introduce a third lane and constructing a separate pedestrian/ cycle bridge to support connectivity between Kilmarnock and Hurlford.

"Significant work has already been carried out on the improvement plans for the Bellfield Interchange as part of the application process and these plans will now need be further assessed by the council for feasibility and affordability."

Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.