'Lessons must be learned' from failed cash bid for Ayr leisure centre project

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A councillor has called on South Ayrshire Council to learn from its failed bids for levelling up cash to ensure success in the next round.Conservative Councillor Bob Pollock sought clarity about the bid around Ayr Leisure Centre and whether the decision to scrap the £45m project had been the reason for the failure.The leisure centre was one of three South Ayrshire bids to the UK Government’s scheme, with South Ayrshire Council seeking £20m.The bid was made last summer, before the decision was taken by the Conservative administration to scrap the project, and retain the Citadel.The administration says it submitted the bid developed by the previous SNP/Labour administration, which had been for a leisure development, rather than the new Ayr leisure centre specifically.At the time, then Labour group leader councillor Brian McGinley had previously claimed that the Levelling Up bid would fail because the leisure centre project had been scrapped by the Conservative administration.The cost of refurbishing the Citadel Leisure Centre had been questioned, with opposition councillors claiming it would be greater than the allocation of £10m.Cllr Pollock asked chief executive Eileen Howat which administration had developed and submitted the Levelling Up bid for the leisure development.She replied that the development of the bids were approved by the last administration, with the current one only approving the final submission.Asked why the bids failed, Ms Howat provided the feedback received from the UK Government.In terms of the leisure development, she said: “Elements of this bid were good, particularly around the strategic fit and economic case.“However, there were some areas of weakness which could be strengthened.“These include