The former Killoch Colliery - the scene of some of the more passionate picketing during the miners strike - has been earmarked for the project.

Barr - one of Scotland’s leading waste management companies - have unveiled plans to apply to East Ayrshire Council for permission to start work on the Barr Killoch Energy Recovery Park.

The firm claim the £60 million investment will improve the way in which local authorities manage their household waste and it claims that the development of the state-of-the-art Energy Recovery Park at Killoch in east will bring significant social and economic benefits to the area.

Now Barr are keen to rejuvinate the old Killoch site from a redundant coal mining site into a modern waste treatment facility.

The firm currently provide waste treatment, recycling and disposal services and has operated across Ayrshire for over 150 years. The company employs 50 people but if the proposals get the go ahead then a further 35 local jobs are expected to be created.

The company will carry out various impact tests before submitting its proposals to EAC. Following a detailed traffic impact assessment Barr are expected to put up to an extra four truck per hour on the A70 Cumnock to Ayr road.

As well as safeguarding 50 exisiting jobs and creating 35 direct jobs the company estimate that a further 200 indirect jobs would be created across the local Ayrshire supply chain.

Barr expect the proposals to go before Council by May this year.

The Barr Killoch Energy Recovery Park will comprise of a Material Recovery Facility and a Energy Recovery Gasification Facility.

The Material Recovery Facility will process household waste and will extract recyclate materials such as metals, plastic and timber which can be separated and recycled. The material that cannot be recycled is known as refuse derived fuel (RDF).

RDF has traditionally been sent tolandfill or exported by boat to Europe for use as a feedstock to generate heat and electricity.

The RDF generated from this process would be used at Killoch to operate an energy recovery gasification facility.

The Energy Recovery Gasification Facility will heat RDF and convert it into a gas from which energy will be created. The energy generated from the facility will be converted into electricity and heat. The electricity will be exported to the National Grid and the heat will be utilised for a diverse range of projects at Killoch.

Barr have been meeting with local communities this week at public consultations in Auchinleck, Drongan and Netherthird. Further consultations are to be held on Tuesday March 31 at Ochiltree Community Centre from 4pm until 8pm and on Thursday April 9 from 4pm until 8pm at Mauchline Community Centre.