Beach (or 'The Shore', as it is known locally) ps - by Crawford Fulton
This image was taken by Jutta Meyer.
HARBOUR AND BEACH PARK 2 - by Crawford Fulton
We now turn to the plans for the leisure centre, which morphed into the Magnum six years later. The first thing which strikes me about the plan is the extensive amount of land which was to be developed around the centre: training areas, practice areas, a ski slope, tennis courts and, if you examine the top closely, even a stadium! I love the idea of 'club rooms', so the centre would also become a place where groups in the town could meet. I think that having a space for a youth club is another great idea. To me, this is one of he best parts of the 1971 Plan. OK the demolition of all the buildings along Harbour Street is an act of vandalism, this was proposed to make way for 'Marine Drive' - you have to remember that tarmac was viewed as very groovy at the time. So, had they kept the existing harbourside buildings and put this lot behind them, I think that we have a pretty good scheme. Indeed, it might be an idea to consider creating some outdoor sports areas (all-weather 5-a-side football pitches, a running track, etc) WHEN we retain the current Magnum and see it brought up to date.
Lower Bridgegate (late 1960s) - by Crawford Fulton
Looking east, from a few metres onto the Water Bridge; no properties had been demolished at this point - within a few years, only the Trinity Church (seen top right) would remain. Some people would call this 'bold planning' - I would describe it as an unpardonable act physical and cultural vandalism.
HARBOUR AND BEACH PARK 1 - by Crawford Fulton
In this photo you can see the overall plan for the Harbour and Beach Park. Two things will strike you from the overhead photo of the model: firstly, that a large area of land (the former Ayrshire Metal Products/Dockyard site) was proposed to be flooded in order to create a marina, you can see two illustrations of how this may have looked on the right of the photo); and secondly, almost two-thirds of the current Beach Park was to be developed for housing and a hotel (you really have to admire Irvine Bay for coming up with a near-identical solution, perhaps their consultants did spend some time in Irvine after all, looking up the 1971 Plan in the Library).
In terms of the marina proposal, I think that the flooding of such a large area of land would require a lot of detailed investigation. Of particular concern would be how this might affect the harbour and the wetlands between the Rivers Irvine and Garnock. It must be remembered that our knowledge of the ecology of water habitats was much less sophisticated 40+ years ago. As for the Beach Park, there's not a lot of it, is there? Such a large development next to the shore would do irreparable damage to the fragile sand dunes and ruin the feeling of 'getting away from it all', which you can get on the beach. Another thing is, how much traffic would all this generate, the roads on the model are pretty wee, could they have coped? The model also shows the western end of the 'superstructure' which was planned to start at the Cross. This was to comprise of a college, council offices and housing, all served by a monorail. You've got to love them, they had obviously spent too many hours watching Stingray and Thunderbirds!
