Residents will be hit with the maximum 4.79 per cent increase in council tax from April. 

Dozens of service cutbacks and price hikes were approved by councillors in County Buildings this morning.

The council will splash out £40 million on a new leisure centre to replace the Citadel in Ayr.

There would be a new public park at the Riverside at the bottom of the town and a heritage centre in the Town Hall. 

There will be a new Carrick Academy and Girvan Primary and free school meals for P4 kids in deprived areas.

Swimming pools will open for fewer hours and casual charges for using the pool will go up.

Fifteen teacher posts will disappear in schools. There will also be fewer school assistants. 

But there will be no compulsory redundancies. 

Golfers on the council-run courses are set to pay more.

Other price increases faced by people include bulky uplifts going up from £20 to £25.

Allotment holders will pay more than double – up from £20 annually to £49. 

People will pay four per cent more for bereavement services. 

The budget was agreed unanimously by all councillors. 

Council leader Douglas Campbell, SNP, said: “I’m sure it will come as no surprise that one of the most difficult decisions we had to take was determining the level of council tax increase.”

The council tax rise equates to 16p more a day for a Band D property. 

Councillor Campbell described the budget as “bold and ambitious.”

Conservative local leader Martin Dowey said his party would not put forward an amendment. 

He said his group were involved in “grown up politics.”

He said: “We will support the duty to present a balanced budget.”