The Environment

The Urban Environment

ayrtown

My local urban environment, is a town in South Ayrshire called Ayr. It is largely made up of housing estates, shops and large areas of greenery. Housing estates have grown rapidly over the last few years. This increase in population was mainly due to families relocating out of Glasgow. Now that there are fantastic railway and bus links, people have chosen to live out of the city and commute. There are also more flats due to the increase in University students moving to Ayr. It also has a large town centre, which contains many different kinds of shops, restaurants and bars. The buildings in Ayr are quite historic with many local tourist attractions such as Robert Burns House. Ayr has developed as the central retail hub in the south of Scotland after the opening of the town’s first department store, Hourstons, in 1896. In the 1970s the opening of stores such as Marks and Spencer’s and Ayr’s first shopping centre, the Kyle Centre (1988), encouraged an expansion in the local economy. Heathfield Retail park, an out-of-town retail park, opened in 1993 with shops such as Halfords and Homebase. Ayr Central Shopping Centre opened in March 2006, housing shops such as Debenhams and H&M and underparking for 500 cars. In December 2014 Threesixty Architecture received planning permission to refurbish the Kyle Centre by reinventing it as a centre of leisure through the creation of a new cinema complex among other new features.

Ayr is a coastal town which lies on the mouth of the River Ayr. The river then flows out into the larger Firth of Clyde estuary. From the coast the Isle of Arran can be seen, and on a very clear day, the northern tip of Northern Ireland.Much of the land in and around this area is very flat and low lying, used for rearing dairy cattle. Towards the south of Ayr however the land is higher than most areas in the county of Ayrshire, an example of this being the Brown Carrick Hill which is situated due South of Doonfoot. Ayr lies approximately 35 miles (55 km) southwest of Glasgow.

There are many different modes of transport in Ayr. One mode of public transport in the town is the rail service. There are trains running to Glasgow, Largs, Edinburgh, Stranraer and there is also a direct train to nearby Prestwick Airport.  The town is served by the Glasgow Prestwick International Airport just 2 miles north from Ayr, which offers regional and domestic air services across Europe and the British Isles. Ayr also has a good bus service with a new bus link just being announced to nearby Silverburn shopping centre. It also good traffic links to nearby towns and cities. Having a wide range of options for public transport helps the environment as it reduces pollution and road congestion and it also reduces the need for building large car parks on valuable land that could have been used in a more beneficial way.

In Ayr there are 2 nursery schools, 15 primary schools, 1 special needs school and 4 secondary schools. It also has Ayr college, the University of the West of Scotland and Scotlands Rural College.

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Ayr is home to The Gaiety Theatre. For fifty years the Popplewell family ran the theatre. During this time the Gaiety developed a reputation as a variety theatre with a ‘summer’ variety show – the Gaiety Whirl – which ran for 26 weeks at its height. In January 2009 the theatre closed, leaving Ayr without a theatre. The closure was met with considerable opposition and dismay among many Ayr residents, particularly since it appeared that the required capital and revenue investment to reopen the theatre would not be available. A public meeting attracted over 400 attendees, the future of the theatre was a key issue in the local press, many Scottish performers expressed their dismay and there was extensive discussion on social media.  In early 2009 South Ayrshire Council invited tenders to take on the theatre management. The Ayr Gaiety Partnership (AGP), a charity formed for the purpose in Summer 2009, secured preferred bidder status. Just over three years later, having secured financial backing from the Council and Scottish Government, as well as from local fundraising, AGP took on a 99-year lease of the theatre. The theatre has just been renovated and it is a very successful part of Ayr.

To the north of Ayr is the adjoining town of Prestwick, which is famous for its golf and aviation industry, thanks to the presence of Glasgow Prestwick International Airport. Only 5 miles north of Ayr is Troon, a golf and seaside resort which has hosted British Open Championship. Ayr has three golf courses in Bellisle, Seafield and Dalmilling, as well as a private course called St Cuthberts. The area is synonymous as a seaside resort, with the south of the town housing the Craig Tara and Haven (formerly Butlins) holiday parks. The suburban village of Alloway to the south of the town is also well established for its associations with the poet Robert Burns.

Ayr is served by three libraries plus a mobile library. These are:

  • Alloway Library (attached to Alloway Primary school)
  • Carnegie Library (main library)
  • Forehill Library

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