Dalmellington
Dalmellington parish lies at the southern tip of East Ayrshire, approximately 15 miles from Ayr on the A713 Ayr to Castle Douglas road, which is part of the stunning Galloway Tourist Route.
The main settlements are Dalmellington, Bellsbank and Burnton. Bellsbank, approximately ½ mile from Dalmellington, was originally built between the wars to provide housing for miners and is now a community in its own right.
The most recent estimate (2010 Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics) shows the population of the area at around 2,800. This is split fairly evenly between Bellsbank and Dalmellington. While the population in Dalmellington has stayed steady over the last 10 years, there has been a decrease in the population of Bellsbank, falling from 1,629 in 2001 to 1,409 in 2010. Bellsbank has a much higher percentage of children (around 21%) than Dalmellington (around 12%), but the percentage of children is falling in both areas, and the percentage of older people is increasing. In fact, the percentage of pension age population is now higher in Dalmellington than in the rest of East Ayrshire and Scotland. This could be due to the care homes in the area.
Mining was the mainstay of the economy until the 1970’s when pit closures had a devastating effect on local employment and the economy. Combined with a subsequent decline in employment in manufacturing and in forestry, this has resulted in three generations of worklessness for some families. The main local employers are the 2 Care Homes in Dalmellington, and 2 in nearby Patna, as well as around 140 jobs in opencast mining. However, this is a far cry from the boom days of mining when over 1500 local men were employed in the pits. There are over 50 local businesses – including a variety of shops, hairdressers, cafes and pubs, garages, taxis and haulage contractors. Craigengillan Estate also provides training and employment for local people. There is an IT training unit at the Area Centre, and also rooms available for meetings. The Zone is a community-run project which provides accredited training for young people.
Across the area, there is a very high percentage of councils or housing associations renting houses. In Bellsbank, almost 80% of the houses are for social rent, compared to around 34% in the rest of East Ayrshire.