| Allan Wilson:
It has been
a long day and I have no wish to prolong business unnecessarily. However,
I will make several points in support of the motion. I wish to put on record
my personal tribute to Liz McLardy, Dale Hughes, Ashley Pringle and the
West Kilbride community initiative more generally for their persistence
and vision in promoting West Kilbride as Ayrshire's, and prospectively
Scotland's, craft town.
I take responsibility
at the outset for promoting the aims and aspirations of the initiative
beyond the immediate boundaries of Ayrshire to incorporate Scotland as
a whole. I do so because I believe the concept to be, in the current jargon—as
Fergus Ewing most recently said—sustainable. The consultant's report and
feasibility study supports that view.
For the uninitiated,
West Kilbride is a small town of 5,000-odd souls in my constituency of
Cunninghame North. As the report says, it enjoys a favourable location
on the edge of Clyde Muirshiel regional park, on the shores of the Firth
of Clyde, looking out to the isle of Arran.
The area comprises
West Kilbride and the small suburb of Seamill. It is a few miles from the
larger towns of Largs and Ardrossan and roughly 20 miles from each of the
regional centres of Greenock, Ayr and Kilmarnock. Its geographical location
and the sociological trend towards out-of-town shopping and commerce have
combined to the extent that there is concern about the quality of West
Kilbride's townscape and fears that accelerated decline will destroy the
busy hub of community life that has hitherto been valued as a key element
in the character of the town.
I want to be
positive—like the community—but I will give members a depressing statistic.
In the 1980 official guide to West Kilbride and Seamill, 46 local businesses
placed adverts. Thirty of those have since closed, with others coming and
going over the period. That trend is anything but unique to West Kilbride,
but what is unique is the community's response. It has turned adversity
in on itself and converted West Kilbride into Ayrshire's—or Scotland's—craft
town as the principal, but not the only, means of regenerating the town
centre and the wider community. I recognise the impact that the initiative
can have for West Kilbride and its residents.
The study that
demonstrates the financial feasibility of the project was jointly funded
by Enterprise Ayrshire, North Ayrshire Council and British Energy, which
is a key local employer. Given that tomorrow we are debating the enterprise
network, it is opportune to praise the partnership as a model example of
the promotion of traditional enterprise—the crafts—in a modern business
setting. The initiative is a prime example of how traditional values, culture,
skills and heritage can be welded to modern marketing and promotional activity
to boost economic activity. It can do so principally in the area of tourism,
but it can also boost local enterprise, entrepreneurship and skills training
as an integral part of enhancing our cultural heritage. The cluster strategy
that underpins the initiative is one that is favoured by the Executive
and the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise. It can succeed.
Niche marketing,
an important part of the Executive's tourism strategy, is relevant to what
we are discussing. West Kilbride's inspirational model is Wigtown in Kirkcudbrightshire,
which has prospered since acquiring the title of Scotland's book town.
The success of local crafts fairs in West Kilbride, allied with the level
of craft work in the area and the growing interest among the area's public
agencies in the economic potential of crafts, all suggest that the crafts
theme is appropriate to West Kilbride and has great potential. All the
bodies with responsibility for community regeneration must respond to the
challenge of the initiative and realise that potential.
That challenge
can be quantified. The report says that the most recent estimate is that
the initiative requires a capital-funding package of £1.7 million.
Although that challenge should not be underestimated, it should not be
considered unachievable. All that is needed is for the agencies and funding
bodies—including the Executive and Scottish Enterprise—to work together
to promote the economic regeneration of Scottish communities. However,
West Kilbride is a community with a unique and eminently marketable concept.
I am sure that we can take the idea of West Kilbride as Scotland's craft
town out of the realm of the feasibility study and into reality.
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