South Ayrshire

South Ayrshire (Sooth Ayrshire; Siorrachd Inbhir Àir a Deas, ) 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 Helen Moonie as Provost.

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 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:
 * Alloway (Suburb of Ayr)
 * Ayr
 * Annbank
 * Ballantrae
 * Barr
 * Barrhill
 * Crosshill
 * Coylton
 * Drongan
 * Dailly
 * Dundonald
 * Dunure
 * Girvan
 * Kirkmichael
 * Kirkoswald
 * Lendalfoot
 * Maybole
 * Monkton
 * Mossblown
 * Maidens
 * Old Dailly
 * Pinmore & Pinwherry
 * Prestwick
 * Straiton
 * Symington
 * Tarbolton
 * Troon
 * Turnberry
 * Doonfoot (Suburb of Ayr)

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
 * Souter Johnnie's Cottage

Closed schools

 * Mainholm Academy
 * Good Shepherd Primary
 * Newton Academy

Council political composition
A list of councillors may be found below:
 * Conservative: 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: Allan Dorans JP (Group Leader), Nan McFarlane, Douglas Campbell, William Grant, Ian Douglas, Corrie Wilson, John Allan, Ian Cochrane and Alec Oattes.


 * Labour: John McDowall (Group Leader) Phil Saxton, Helen Moonie(Provost), Ian Cavana, Andy Campbell, Sandra Goldie, Rita Miller, Kirsty Darwent and Brian McGinley.


 * Independent: Brian Connolly and Alec Clark.

Scottish independence referendum
In the Scottish independence referendum, South Ayrshire rejected independence by a margin of 57.9% "No" to 42.1% "Yes" alongside 32 of 36 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.

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, 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.