South Ayrshire

South Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire.

The administrative boundaries were formed in 1996, and is a direct successor to the Kyle and Carrick district.

The Scottish Conservative Party currently lead a minority government in South Ayrshire, with Bill McIntosh as Leader of the Council and Helen Moonie as provost. They are working within a partnership agreement with the Scottish Labour Party, supported by both Independents.

County Buildings

South Ayrshire's Headquarters, "County Buildings", are located in Wellington Square, Ayr. The buildings were built in 1931 on the site of Ayr Jail and opened by King George VI. At the front of the buildings is Ayr Sheriff Court which was built as the original county buildings in 1822.

Towns and villages

Despite only making up a fraction of the council area Ayr, Prestwick and Troon have a combined population of 76,846- 68.13% of the South Ayrshire's total population. The surrounding rural area of Kyle and Carrick has a population of 35,953 - this accounts for 31.87% of South Ayrshire's population. A list of settlements in South Ayrshire may be found below:

• Alloway (Suburb of Ayr)
• Ayr
• Annbank
• Ballantrae
• Barassie (Suburb of Troon)
• Barr
• Barrhill
• Crosshill
• Coylton
• Drongan
• Dailly
• Dundonald
• Dunure
• Girvan
• Colmonell
• Kirkmichael
• Kirkoswald
• Lendalfoot
• Maybole
• Monkton
• Mossblown
• Maidens
• Old Dailly
• Pinmore
• Pinwherry
• Prestwick
• Straiton
• Symington
• Tarbolton
• Troon
• Turnberry

Places of interest

• Ailsa Craig
• Bachelor's Club, Tarbolton
• Bargany Gardens
• Blairquhan
• Burns Cottage
• Burns National Heritage Park (Robert Burns)
• Carrick Forest
• Crossraguel Abbey
• Culzean Castle
• Electric Brae
• Penkill Castle
• Souter Johnnie's Cottage

Education

Secondary schools

School	School roll	Opened	Area served	notes
Ayr Academy	715	1880	North Ayr, Coylton, Annbank, Mossblown	Scotland's oldest secondary school
Belmont Academy	1455	New School Opened August 2008	South Ayr, Holmston, Braehead, Tarbolton	6th largest school in Scotland
Carrick Academy	554	1926	Maybole and North Carrick	Present buildings built in 1974
Girvan Academy	660		Girvan and South Carrick
Kyle Academy	902	1979	Ayr Fort, Old Belmont, Masonhill, Forehill
Marr College	1233	1935	Troon and Loans	Funded by money left by CK Marr
Queen Margaret Academy	662	1977	Roman Catholic pupils in South Ayrshire	Only Roman Catholic school in South Ayrshire
Prestwick Academy	1200	1902	Prestwick, Woodfield, Heathfield, Symington, Monkton

Closed schools

• Mainholm Academy
• Good Shepherd Primary
• Newton Academy

Scottish independence referendum

In the Scottish independence referendum, 2014, South Ayrshire rejected Scottish independence by a margin of 57.9% "No" to 42.1% "Yes" alongside 28 of 32 local council areas in Scotland. With a turnout of 86.1%, there was 34,402 "Yes" votes and 47,247 "No" votes. Nationally, 55.3% of voters voted "No" in the referendum compared to 44.7%, who voted "Yes" - resulting in Scotland remaining a part of the United Kingdom.