Plans to construct a £50 million leisure centre in the heart of Ayr have been scrapped by the new-look council leadership.
Conservative Martin Dowey confirmed to Ayrshire Live that he will take the proposals off the table with immediate effect.
Instead, Councillor Dowey and his minority Tory administration plan to invest £10m on the revamp of the current Citadel facility – and spread the remaining unspent budget across South Ayrshire.
He said: "This was a project doomed to failure from the start and the costs were spiralling by the day.
"The previous administration was never prepared to listen or accept the obvious that was staring them in the face.
"Had this gone ahead, we would have been looking at costs of £60m in the current market – and that is simply unacceptable.
"Despite a groundswell of public opinion which didn't want it, they pressed on regardless and came close to leaving the taxpayer with a massive and very costly white elephant."
Cllr Dowey says his leadership will spend £6m revamping Ayr town centre as the county town and send another £1m to each ward in the region.
He added: "We're not here to play politics.
"I totally understand the argument that we need to do something with Ayr town centre and make progress – but it has to be the right thing.
"We want to do things like bring back crazy golf on the esplanade, make the most of our natural resources and drive people back to the town.
"There will be an increase in cleaning teams out in the town – we need to get away from the idea that you go down the High Street and instantly forget about it.
"We need to spend money on improving the ambience.
"Is there deprivation in the area? Yes there is. But there's also a lot of money in the region and we need to encourage people to spend it and invest it here instead of leaving to go elsewhere.
"These are not overnight fixes but they are things we are going to set about doing as quickly as we possibly can."
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