This petition is a call for Community Wealth Building. We are demanding a shift away from 'Managed Decline' and 'Elitist Resorts' toward revenue-generating primary anchors that keep money in East Ayrshire. With the 2026 Community Wealth Building Bill now passed, the Council has a legal duty to prioritise local economic resilience over private gated developments

For years, the plans for Loudoun Castle have revolved around "Luxury Golf" and "Championship Courses." We are currently at Peak Golf in Ayrshire—we don't need another playground for the 1% while our local families have nowhere to go.

We are calling for a radical shift in the economic direction of East Ayrshire: Families Over Fairways.

Our Demands:

Reject the Luxury Golf Masterplan: The Council must prioritise a family-accessible theme park or adventure hub at Loudoun Castle over an elitist resort.

Build the 'New Lagoon': We demand a £40m redevelopment of the Galleon Centre into a world-class waterpark to drive footfall back into Kilmarnock town centre.

Fund Local, Not Bureaucracy: Use the savings from a "Quango Cull" (cutting executive waste in Edinburgh) to invest directly in Ayrshire’s leisure infrastructure and raise local tax thresholds.

The current model is failing. We are tired of "town centre regeneration", that's just new paving stones. We need Destination Leisure that brings people in and puts money in the pockets of local workers.

Quick Answers (FAQ)

Q: How can East Ayrshire afford a £40m Waterpark and Castle restoration?

A: By stopping the Economic Leakage. Currently, Scotland spends billions on centralised "executive layers" in Edinburgh. We propose a "Quango Cull"—scrapping bodies like Scottish Enterprise (where the CEO's salary exceeds £190k) and repatriating those funds directly to local authorities. This isn't "new" money; it's our money being sent back to where it's needed.

Q: Why not let the private developers build the Golf Resort? It’s a "free" investment. 

A: There is no such thing as free investment. A "luxury resort" is a closed-gate model. It creates a handful of low-wage service jobs while the profits leave Ayrshire. Furthermore, it creates Opportunity Cost—once that land is a golf course, it can never be a high-footfall family hub. We are trading our future for a spreadsheet entry.

Q: Where does the "New Lagoon" (Galleon) funding come from?

A: This is a Capital Reallocation. The Council already spends millions on "Town Centre Regeneration" (paving, benches, facades). While well-intentioned, these don't drive footfall. By pivoting those capital budgets into a Primary Anchor Attraction (The New Lagoon), we create a reason for people to visit. The footfall drives the retail, not the other way around.

Q: I thought the Loudoun Castle plans were rejected years ago. Why are we still talking about this?

A: You are right that the specific "Loudoun Woods" project (which included 1,000 houses and a golf resort) was quashed by Scottish Ministers in 2019. However, that was just a rejection of one specific developer's plan. It didn't "fix" the site—it just left it in limbo. We are shouting about it now because the site is still sitting empty while the Castle continues to deteriorate.

Q: What is the "SPD" and why does it matter?

A: The Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) is the Council’s "rulebook" for the site. Even though the 2019 plan was stopped, the Council’s current policy (prioritised in the new LDP2 framework) still earmarks the land for "luxury tourism" and "holiday lodges." This is a "Zombie Policy"—it keeps the door open for the same elitist, low-volume models that have already failed. This petition is about forcing the Council to rewrite that rulebook to prioritise local families instead.

Q: Why not just build the golf course? Wouldn't that bring jobs?

A: Ayrshire is already saturated with over 45 golf courses. A luxury resort is a "closed-gate" model where visitors spend their money inside the resort, not in our local shops. By pivoting to a high-volume Family Adventure Hub and the "New Lagoon" at the Galleon, we attract upwards of 500,000 to 1-million visitors who will actually spend money in Kilmarnock’s high street and the Irvine Valley. It’s about creating hundreds of local jobs, not just a few service roles for a gated community.

Q: Is this just "non-essential" spending during a budget crisis? 

A: No. This is about Community Wealth Building—the exact opposite of a "vanity project." Currently, East Ayrshire is stuck in a cycle of "managed decline" where we cut services because the local tax base is shrinking.

A world-class theme park or waterpark isn't a "cost" or a drain on resources; it is an economic engine. It brings in hundreds of thousands of outside visitors whose spending creates local jobs and generates business rates. That new revenue is precisely what grows the local tax base, providing the long-term funding we need to protect essential services like the NHS and social care. In a budget crisis, you don't just cut; you invest in the things that actually make money for the community.