We’re on the long road back
No quick fix for crisis- hit area
It is blessed with some of Ayrshire’s most stunning landscape.
But scars, both mental and physical, run deep in the Doon Valley.
An area rich in mining history, it’s now struggling not to be defined by its own latter day coal scandal.
The liquidation of Scottish Coal and ATH Resources in 2013 sparked a £ 161million crisis across the region.
The probe that followed into East Ayrshire Council has been both damaging and with long term implications.
But four years on, and with the title of ‘ UK Council of the Year’ under their belts, bosses believe they are digging themselves out of trouble.
The journey to the end of the tunnel is, admittedly, a long way from over.
But in go- ahead chief executive Fiona Lees, the drive for continuous improvement appears to be in place.
She said: “We’ve never hidden from what happened, but you cannot stand still in life.
“How we react and move forward is the most important thing and the regeneration work going on across our coalfields is simply massive.”
She’s not wrong – £ 30 million worth of restoration projects from Skares to Powharnal underline the size of the task at hand.
Not that numbers like that are of much comfort to the hardest- hit communities in the Valley.
And increasingly it is they who are being asked to take on their own facilities, once run by the council, as part of a new- look model.
More than 40 Community Asset Transfers have now taken place, putting the likes of Dalmellington Community Hall and Doon Valley Golf and Social Club into public hands.
Far from “shirking” responsibility, the council claims it is strengthening the hand of the people.
The golf club, closed after 90 historic years, lies as a sad reminder to what came before.
But determined remnants are now taking on their own lease of the social club in a bid to keep the old place swinging.
Secretary Margaret Rooney admitted: “A lot of the golfers are still very angry.
“We now have to play out of Dalmilling and it’s very hard to keep the social side of things going when that happens.
“So as a social club we’ve had to look at ways of pulling together, whether it be our bingo nights or the various other events we can stage here.
“Hopefully we can still enjoy a future now that things are passing over to our hands.”
Council subsidies of £ 28 per round at Doon Valley eventually proved the death knell for the nine- hole course.
Mrs Lees added: “If communities can bring together viable alternatives, we’re all for it.
“Nobody wanted this place to close, but there comes a point where the business case simply isn’t sustainable.
“But we’re delighted to see the social committee taking things forward.”