Eglinton Park cuts would be 'devastating' says man behind petition

The man behind a campaign to stop North Ayrshire Councillors cutting the park ranger service at Eglinton Country Park insists the move would be ‘devastating’ for the area.

Craig McLellan’s petition to ‘save’ the popular green space from upcoming budget cuts has already massed nearly six thousand signatures.

The Saltcoats man admits he has been shocked at the positive response to his online bid to urge local authority councillors to reject officer proposals that cutting the ranger service could help plug a £16 million financial blackhole.

It has been suggested that a saving of £76,000 could be made for 2025/26 with the removal of the Countryside Rangers Service based in the park, which spans from Kilwinning to Irvine.

But Craig believes the economic and community benefits of the country park far outweigh any financial saving that might be made.

He said: “Things we know that would happen straight away (should the rangers be removed), the community garden would close, and that currently get used for liability programmes, with young people and adult learners, and there is a park ranger whose job is just to look after that garden and help young people get back into work and learn new skills.

“So that would be lost.

“The path stewards put in an absolute power of work, they do over 1400 hours of volunteering a year, they maintain all the flower beds and paths throughout the park, they wouldn’t be able to operate anymore because they work under the ranger service.

“They just wouldn’t exist.”

Craig says removing the rangers service will result in Eglinton losing it's 'Country Park' status and instead feels it will become open land.

“It would mean the council is not obligated to have as much care for it,” he added.

“It would just become essentially an open field, and it would just have very basic health and safety maintenance and none of the other stuff that comes with being a country park.”

North Ayrshire Council has told Clyde 1 Ayrshire this year’s budget will prove to be ‘difficult’ with cuts to be made somewhere.

A spokesperson said: For 2024/25, we anticipate a significant budget gap, which will require us to make a number of savings.

“Unfortunately, that means there will be difficult choices ahead. However, it is important to stress that no decisions have yet been taken on any potential savings.

“We are currently analysing feedback we received during our recent engagement with communities, and this will help inform councillors when they meet to set the budget in February 2025.”

Regular park user Craig thanked people for backing his petition, something he plans to submit to council HQ in Irvine before the February 25th budget meeting.

He finished: “Absolutely overwhelmed by the response.

“I was at a meeting at Eglinton Park where the council told me this might be happening.

“That finished at nine o’clock, and by the time I had got home and set up the Facebook page I put it up at midnight, and within 12 hours it already had over a thousand signatures.

“It has been amazing.”

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