A tireless voice of the community has finally pledged to give authority figures some peace – after hanging up his campaigning boots.
Norman McLean has spent the last two decades as a vocal thorn in the side of South Ayrshire Council.
As chair of Fort, Seafield and Wallacetown Community Council, he represented a large swathe of the county town.
And when he took on a cause, those in power at County Buildings invariably knew they were in for a challenge.
Now the retired architect is stepping down to let new blood take the helm after years of crossing swords with those at the top of local government.
Norman, 82, told the Ayrshire Post: "I never set out to be someone who was willfully against the council all the time or have some kind of 'Dr No' role.
"But when you have a succession of administrations who get things as wrong as ours have down the years, it was difficult not to speak up.
"All I ever wanted to be on was the side of what was right. If that made me an opposition voice to the council, so be it."
Norman, who spent 18 years as community council chair, admits "talking too much" at his first-ever meeting quickly led to a promoted role at the forefront of many prominent campaigns.
He said: "I'm proud of the many battles we fought down the years to protect the town's Common Good land.
"We stopped plans to build the Grammar School on it and, so far, the encroachment of a proposed golf academy.
"Common Good land is being eroded by the council all the time but is something that should be held very close to the town's heart."
In latter years, Norman was a leading critic of the bid to pull down Ayr's High Flats, which he maintains will be done without any "sound reasoning" by the council.
He added: "Looking back, it is my one major disappointment that we couldn't stop that from being done.
"There is no logic in replacing those 234 perfectly good flats with less than 100 new builds.
"The council should always be challenged on matters like that and I'm quite sure that won't change now that I'm handing over to someone else!
"I'd rather quit when I was winning than have to be told when to step down.
"There is scope for some new blood to come in now and I'm sure it will be in safe hands."
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