Ayrshire View

In the aftermath of South Ayrshire Council leader Martin Dowey standing down under a cloud, I tuned in to the webcast of the Council meeting on May 1 to see what was next for our Council.

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As the meeting continued and members voted to oust Councillor Dowey’s depute leader Bob Pollock, my jaw dropped onto my laptop when I heard a councillor direct an expletive normally reserved for the hardest and darkest Ayrshire junior football grounds toward fellow elected representative.

I continued watching as the meeting ended abruptly with Provost Ian Campbell taking the principled stand in resigning his provostship on the spot in disgust at the outburst, citing his “misfortune to work amongst some despicable people” and having to “deal with people whose egos are better than their ability”.

So, like many concerned South Ayrshire citizens, having waited almost three weeks for new leadership at the Council, I tuned back into the reconvened meeting on Tuesday, May 20.

Perhaps naively, the first thing I expected to hear was which councillor had been yellow carded for their outburst and then their apology broadcast publicly.

Nothing. Instead, by the time the meeting ended I was retrieving my jaw from my laptop keyboard a second time.