Pupil power leads the way in Kilwinning

Following a 10 week project exploring the question “What would make Kilwinning town centre get respect?”, the young people of Kilwinning Academy presented their findings to Irvine Bay Regeneration Company at an event held at the Claremont Hotel, Kilwinning on Monday 19 May.

Launched in early March, the twenty 2nd year pupils involved in the project to breathe new life into their town centre have been generating fresh ideas.

Over the weeks they have considered how to redevelop the Main Street into a prosperous and thriving place to meet, shop and do business. They even took a trip into the town to photograph and film the area as well as to survey and speak to the community and businesses about their thoughts.

The project culminated in this handover event where the young people shared their ideas, concepts and suggestions with Irvine Bay Regeneration Company. The highlight of the event was the screening of a video the young people had made, highlighting their thoughts and suggestions.

The young people felt that the key issues in the area were graffiti, dog litter, lighting, paving, empty shops and parking. Some ideas they came up with included:

• bringing more shops into the area, which in turn would bring more people into the town centre
• more bins and more regular litter pick ups would prevent the bins from overflowing and the main street looking messy
• the main street should have colourful banners from the lighting poles showing the positives of Kilwinning, such as the Abbey
• the Abbey should be open more and for longer as well as being promoted more, to allow it to become a successful tourist attraction
• Kilwinning should be promoted as the ‘crossroads of ayrshire’, and they are now looking into having a page on the new Kilwinning website to reflect this
• the community could and should become involved in these areas and make these changes happen

These ideas will now feed into the main planning process for revitalising the main street, being led by Irvine Bay Regeneration Company.

James Ledgerwood, Project Manager with Irvine Bay Regeneration Company said: “We were very impressed with the insight shown by these young people and their ability to propose solutions to the issues they identified. This really has been a fantastic experience for all involved, and Irvine Bay Regeneration Company has benefited from the energy, enthusiasm and openness of these young people. We will now take these suggestions on board as we consider how to build on the town’s rich heritage, increasing activity in the town centre and improving access fro everyone.”

They were supported in the programme by Space Unlimited, a charity specialising in engaging businesses and young people. Lisa Sloan, project and relationships manager with Space Unlimited said: “This has been such an enjoyable project and a great success. While the project might be officially over, the regeneration of Kilwinning is only just beginning and the young people can continue to be involved in something with real and lasting legacy. This is what Space Unlimited love – helping to encourage new relationships!”