REFRESHING MAYBOLE HIGH STREET

Maybole Community Council recently received the good news that they had been awarded a grant from Carrick Futures of almost £12,000 to carry out a refresh of Maybole High Street. Community Councillors set up a working group and made contact with a large number of shop keepers and proprietors of ground level premises. A local painting firm has been successful in tendering for the work and over the next few months detailed discussions will take place over how each of the participating shop fronts can be painted to improve their appearance and to brighten up the High Street in general.

As reported last August, a number of attempts to contact individuals responsible for empty and dilapidated shops have not been successful. It is intended that further efforts will be made to have these shops, which are a particular eyesore, included in the project. As well as repainting, empty shops will be offered colourful window artwork or vinyls, similar to that which can be seen in some shops in Ayr and Glasgow, to take away the empty appearance. The theme for these window displays will be the Homecoming and Maybole's own particular contribution to that - Where It All Began, and the Community Council are working to decide upon the final artwork to be included. A spokesman for the Community Council said 'this is an exciting project which can only help to improve the appearance and reputation of Maybole High Street. It is unfortunate that the effort of all of those who have been involved in the project could be marred because those responsible for the very worst premises are making no effort to participate in this project. The funding received means that on an average price of £400 the owners will be asked to contribute only 20% of the costs and so have a real improvement made for a payment of around £80.'