More than a year ago South Ayrshire Council agreed to plans to develop Ayr Racecourse. Since then the development plan has survived objections by local housing developers and their financial backers, which led to a public inquiry last November. On Tuesday the Scottish Executive granted outline planning permission to the Ayr Racecourse project, which includes a new entrance, a multiplex cinema, casino, new grandstand, racing museum and 400 houses.

The idea of developers Alan Macdonald and Richard Johnstone is to transform the property into a glamorous venue to rival the legendary Ascot and Longchamp racecourses, in England and France respectively. Macdonald, chairman of the Dawn Group, and Johnstone, chairman of Thorntoun Health Care, bought the property in June 2003 for £10 million (US$19 million), and have injected around US$20 million to improve the racetrack and the Western House Hotel, which sits on the property.

The new development has a tag of around US$65 million and is expected to create 340 full-time jobs, with revenues to the local economy of around US$50 million. After news of the Scottish Executive’s decision, Alan Macdonald, the chairman of Ayr Racecourse, said: “This is a great day not only for everyone here but for the whole of Scottish racing.”

Work on the development is expected to start after the Tote-sport Ayr Gold Cup festival in September. Final welcoming comments on this exciting project for the region came from the leader of South Ayrshire Council, Gibson Macdonald: “The racecourse has always been a major attraction to the town of Ayr, and is regularly responsible for attracting a tremendous number of visitors from far and wide.” (S-05.11.06)

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