Wild 1970s Kilmarnock town centre plans aimed to build seven multi-storeys and wipe out historic streets

dailyrecord.co.uk:

By the mid-1960s, Kilmarnock Town Council were concerned expansion of the town and growth in car ownership would exacerbate a serious traffic problem in the central area.In 1966 the town council commissioned Percy Johnson-Marshall, a leading planning consultancy based in Edinburgh, to prepare a plan that would deal with the traffic issue and review land use within the town centre.The firm had redeveloped Coventry City Centre after the Second World War.

More recently they were main architect for the all seated Celtic Park in Glasgow.Two years later, Percy Johnson-Marshall, produced a Central Area Plan which ultimately led to the destruction of much of the then town centre.The Percy Johnson-Marshall Collection was donated to Edinburgh University by his widow.And after Stuart Wilson and myself discovered this we took numerous trips to study the vast collection of original detailed drawings, sketches, models and maps – many by hand drawn – were undertaken.The secure archive has never been accessed before, and it was like a Howard Carter moment on discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb!The plans were radical – a four lane, one way distributor road orbiting the town centre was proposed.Green Street at the bus station and Sturrock Street were the only sections realised.Fowlds Street and St Marnock Street were to be pedestrianised, traffic instead was to be routed through the northern boundary of Howard Park onto Dundonald Road and John Finnie Street on the new expressway.Numerous elevated walkways and underpasses would allow pedestrians to cross the distributor road, including a walkway from a platform at Kilmarnock Railway Station to the top floor of a multi-storey car park at the site of Fanny by Gaslight.Seven large multi-storey