The Coalfield Communities Landscape Partnership (CCLP) is set to receive more than £2.2m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The partnership has secured the cash for a five year landscape and heritage regeneration project that will see much of East Ayrshire transformed.

Once added to other funding that partners have and will continue to secure, the total project budget will be in the region of £6million.

Caroline Clark, Scotland director of The National Lottery Heritage, said: “The industrial history of East Ayrshire means that people often don’t recognise that the area is rich in both built and natural heritage.

“With the help of National Lottery funding, the Coalfield Communities Landscape Partnership will help communities across a wide area reconnect with the heritage on their doorstep, strengthening their sense of pride and inspiring stewardship of the land around them.”

The funding will finance 22 community-led projects that aim to significantly improve the cultural, natural and industrial heritage of the area.

These varied projects include peatland restoration, new footpaths, an oral history project to capture memories of the lost mining villages, the reinstatement of hedgerow habitats, a musical celebration of life in the coalfields and much more.

The impetus for the CCLP came from East Ayrshire Council’s Minerals Local Development Plan, which focuses on regeneration and restoration, rather than just mineral extraction.

Adopted in January this year, the CCLP is fully embedded within the Minerals Local Development Plan (MLDP) and will work with other initiatives to improve the coalfields area over the lifetime of the plan.

Cllr Roberts, Cabinet member with responsibility for Economy and Infrastructure said: “I am delighted that the application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund has been successful.

“This is the culmination of a huge amount of hard work over the last two years from the CCLP team and of course our passionate and committed community partners, without whom the Partnership just would not work.

“I am excited to see the marvellous mix of projects as they come to fruition over the next five years and I’m sure all our communities will benefit greatly from them.”

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