SO we are told The Donald might be coming to Scotland. Perhaps when he is here he might find time to discuss the finer points of his speciality subject, property development, with his friends at South Ayrshire Council (SAC). Trump Turnberry is after all a South Ayrshire ratepayer.

SAC is minded, at a planning meeting on May 9, to approve its own proposals for possibly the most important site in the Auld Toon, a large riverside gap site on the High Street which is without doubt the key opportunity to revitalise Ayr town centre. However the council’s proposal to be considered on the 9th is in breach of the council’s own so-called master plan for the site. And the beneficiary of the building? The council itself … it is to be new offices for council staff. Is that really the best use that can be found for this unique site?

There is a record number of complaints registered against the proposal. National bodies are against it. And as one speaker at a recent Town Hall meeting said the design is perhaps more befitting a Dubai or Hong Kong harbour than the space between Ayr’s Twa Brigs. Yet the council leader unequivocally told the electorate at the meeting that council was minded to proceed.

So with the town leaders apparently deaf to the veritable tsunami of objections from local taxpayers maybe only Donald can Make Ayr Great Again.

John Dunlop,

19 Wellington Lane, Ayr.