By Kevin Dyson

Copyright dailyrecord

Ayr’s potential as a ‘sleeping giant’ could be roused through the ideas and creativity of local people – helped by £20 million funding that will be directed by the community. That was the sense around the table when the recently appointed Secretary of State for Scotland Douglas Alexander MP, Ayr Carrick and Cumnock MP Elaine Stewart, John Duncan, Labour’s candidate in the Ayr North by-election, and Narture founders Robert Singer and daughter Saskia met in the town to discuss the next chapter of its regeneration. The meeting, held in the creative hub of Narture’s Newmarket Street premises, focused on the need for a grassroots movement. Douglas Alexander was in Ayr as part of the UK Government’s Pride in Place initiative — a ten-year, £292 million programme for community-led regeneration across Scotland, with £20 million earmarked for South Ayrshire over the next decade. “As a government, we want to see a decade of renewal,” he said. “This is about regenerating local communities and high streets that have been through tough times and a decade of austerity. “What’s different is that this time, it won’t be run by government — it’ll be run by local people.” Each area receiving the Pride in Place funding will establish a community board chaired by a local resident rather than an elected official, which will decide what projects are supported. Mr Alexander said that while South Ayrshire Council may have a role in the administrative process, the decision-making will rest with the community. “We’ve learned the lesson,” he said. “When councils act as the main fund holders, the money can end up filling gaps elsewhere. This is about local people in charge — not just plugging holes in local government budgets. “It will be local people in the driving seat. “I have a real sense that South Ayrshire Council has let the community down in recent years, and in that sense, this money that we’re announcing is directly for local people to decide their priorities.” Robert Singer, co-founder of Narture, which operates both a bakery and an art space in the town, spoke with passion about Ayr’s creative roots and unrealised potential. “The best definition I can give is that Ayr is a sleeping giant,” he said. “It just needs some love and care — a bit of vision. “The creative industries are at the root of regeneration.” Mr Singer outlined his plans to expand his bakery at 18-20 Sandgate into a combined space for patisserie, art, and education. It’s an ambitious project — part community hub, part creative enterprise — that aims to bring life back to the High Street. His ideas stretch beyond the building itself. “Imagine trails leading from the station to the beach,” he said. “You’d have the bandstand, the Cutty Sark, and public art along the way. It’s about storytelling — using history, good and bad, to bring people in.” Ayr Carrick and Cumnock MP Elaine Stewart’s office has already had feedback from the community with more than sixty ideas suggested since the funding was announced. She said: “It’s not about what we want,” she said. “It’s about what people in Ayr, Girvan, Maybole and the villages want. “It’s about bringing that pride back into local areas, because we’ve lost that, we’ve lost the respect for the towns and villages that we’ve all been brought up and live in.” Saskia Singer said she had been visiting other regeneration projects around Scotland for the SURF awards – which Narture won the year before – as a judge and had been inspired by the impact creative arts can have on communities. One recent local success, Ms Stewart highlighted, was the Alloway Tunnel mural — a community-led art project involving schools, volunteers, and local artists. “That’s exactly the kind of thing this funding can support — something created by the community that gives people a sense of ownership.” Robert Singer’s account of Ayr’s artistic and historical fabric was vivid. “Every day’s a school day,” he said, “That’s what artists do — we find the context and tell the story. Without the story, you’re missing the point.” His frustration, however, with how local government has historically handled regeneration was clear. “The council are very good at taking ideas,” he said, “but they’ve never been able to deliver them because they don’t have the vision.” John Duncan, the Ayr North Labour by election candidate, said: “It’s a real statement of belief that the government has in the ability of local communities communities to drive their own change. “It’s not politicians in London or in the buildings that are taking the top-down decisions but this is genuinely, it’s not just community investment but community empowerment as well and I think that’s the, that can be the real change.” Mr Alexander agreed. “Most politicians arrive with their ears closed and their mouths open,” he said. “I came here to listen, because the people who best understand what Ayr needs are the people who live here.” Mr Singer outlined the expansion through the success of Narture. He said: “We started with Saskia and I and now have thirteen co-workers. “We don’t call them employees because we’re building a sociocracy — people grow into it. “People need ownership. If they don’t have ownership, why would they invest? It’s about people investing in people.” Mr Alexander agreed, saying: “That’s exactly what Pride in Place is about,” he said. “It’s not being done to communities — it’s being done with them and by them. “We’re providing the floor beneath their feet. The rest comes from them.”