| The constituency is in Ayrshire, Southwest Scotland, approximately 16 miles south of Glasgow. It is wholly within the East Ayrshire Council local government area with one major town, Kilmarnock, and a number of satellite towns and villages: - Stewarton, Kilmaurs, Dunlop, Lugton, Crosshouse, Knockentiber, Gatehead, Fenwick, Waterside, Moscow, Crookedholm, Hurlford, Galston, Newmilns, Darvel and Priestland. From the 2005 general election, the Westminster constituency also includes the communities of Mauchline, Auchinleck, Catrine, Sorn, Muirkirk, Lugar and Logan, while the Scottish Parliament boundary remains the same. Those areas added to the Westminster constituency remain in the Scottish Parliament constituency of Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, held by Cathy Jamieson MSP.
Kilmarnock is the home to Johnnie Walker whisky, and is also now home to a number of new service industries, such as the National Australia Bank and Food Partners Kilmarnock Ltd. Morrisons, the supermarket company, opened its first Scottish megastore here early in 2004. Recently, Kilmarnock was identified as one of the fastest growing areas in the whole of the UK in terms of house prices, a tribute to the work of the last seven years in making the town and its surrounding area attractive to incomers. The M77, completed in April 2005 has placed the constituency firmly on Britain’s motorway network, attracting more business and people into our area. It is also very close to the fast growing Glasgow Prestwick International Airport, which is rapidly becoming a major freight hub, and a centre for low cost passenger flights. The new rail hub at Mauchline lies within the new expanded constituency, and transport communications are seen as one of the real strengths of the area. The area has a long history of transport innovation with one of the earliest railway lines in the UK being built from Kilmarnock to Troon in the Ayrshire coast, and the famous rail engineering firm, Hunslet Barclay, being based in the town. Robert Burns’ first collection of poetry was printed in Kilmarnock and is highly prized throughout the world as the Kilmarnock edition. He spent much of his young life near Mauchline, and the World Burns Federation has its headquarters in Kilmarnock. Sir Alexander Fleming the discoverer of Penicillin was born in Darvel. David Dale, the father in law of Robert Owen, and founder of the famous New Lanark mills was born in Stewarton and a former Governor of Australia, Sir William Fisher, came from Crosshouse. Current literary giants, William and Hugh McIlvanney come from Kilmarnock. |