Brian Donohoe MP

Central Ayrshire is a new Constituency established at the General Election in May 2005. It combines the old Constituencies of Cunninghame South and Ayr.

Central Ayrshire lies on the West Coast of Scotland. Its boundaries start just inside Ayr, sweeping up the west coast through Prestwick and Troon, ending in Kilwinning, the Garnock side of the river. Its largest population is concentrated in Irvine. It also includes many smaller communities such as Dreghorn, Springside, Drybridge, Dundonald, Annbank, Mossblown, Tarbolton, and Symington. Central Ayrshire is a mainly urban constituency, although it does have rural areas within its boundaries.

Brian pictured outside Glasgow Prestwick International Airport

The Constituency is home to Glasgow Prestwick International Airport, and currently being constructed is the new Air Traffic Control Centre. The airport is booming, and provides a high-volume passenger and freight network with numerous charter destinations as well. In addition to the Airport, Troon Harbour has established itself as a major ferry and fishing port, offering a twice-daily ferry service between Scotland and Ireland.

Traditional industries within the area include farming, paper production, and many other strong manufacturing, service and tourism sectors. Some of the largest industries in the area include GlaxoSmithKline, Rockware Glass, British Aerospace, G.E.Caledonian, Goodrich and Caledonian Paper Mill. Much is being done to attract new businesses to the area, particularly in Prestwick and Irvine, and recent developments have included Prestwick International Business Park, Riverside Business Park in Irvine, the Rivergate Retail Park and several new businesses in the call centre and communications field.

Brian pictured with Cunninghame South MSP, Irene Oldfather, outside the Caledonian Paper Mill in Irvine

The area is also well provided with leisure facilities, most notably Royal Troon Golf Club, Prestwick Golf Club and of course the 'new' Dundonald Golf Club. As well as numerous other first class golf courses within the area, the Constituency includes the Magnum Leisure Centre, Irvine Beach Park and the Scottish Maritime Museum.

There are two local authorities which cover Central Ayrshire. North Ayrshire Council covers the old constituency area of Cunninghame South, whilst South Ayrshire Council covers the old constituency of Ayr.

At the last election in 2005, the electorate returned Labour Party with a large share of the vote compared with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats combined. The Labour-voting wards of Irvine New Town, Annbank and Mossbank outweigh Conservative support in the towns of Prestwick and Troon. At the last election, the Conservatives notional support fell by 4.1%, in contrast to the Liberal Democrats who were the biggest gainers and saw their share of the vote increase by over 16%. Conservatives are still the main opposition party in the Constituency, although it is thought that the composition of the wards of Central Ayrshire will continue to provide Labour with a fairly ample majority.