Warning that new airshow could hit South Ayrshire Council services

dailyrecord.co.uk:

South Ayrshire’s Labour leader Brian McGinley has warned that the cost of running Ayr’s airshow could end up hitting council services.But Conservative council leader Martin Dowey hit back, arguing that the event aims to break even and pointed out that councillor Brian McGinley ‘wasn’t worried’ about the impact of borrowing an extra £7m for Ayr Leisure Centre.Concerns were raised by councillors at the Audit and Governance Panel about the £1.5m being proposed for running the airshow over the next five years.They have now demanded a more detailed report on the plans and finances, having acknowledged the money will not actually be approved until the council’s 2023/24 budget meeting in March.Officials explained that the decision of the Cabinet was made do that they could draw up these detailed plans.Councillors agreed that a report on the planning and finance of the airshow should come to them in February, before the budget meeting.Councillor Brian McGinley said that he was ‘happy with the aspiration’ but concerned about the lack of ‘evidence’ of planning, finances and risk management.He added that the timeframe was a ‘political decision’.Suggesting the possibility of the costs spiralling he added: “The problem is that we will have to find some significant cuts to deliver a balanced budget.”He said that come April, the airshow investment could be used to mitigate the need to pull back on ‘free school meals or shut down community centres’.After the meeting, council leader Martin Dowey took issue with this claim, pointing out that the previous administration had granted £250k without any financial return.He added: “Cllr McGinley forgot to mention that he wasn’t worried about the teachers or free school meals when it came to the