Mauchline footpath plan could help deter fly-tippers

Mauchline Action Group is pioneering the projects which include creating a footpath and cycle path running from Mauchline Hill into the village centre, and a viewing area where visitors can spot Campbeltown, Ben Lomond and even the Antrim coast.

It is hoped that the plans will help to prevent fly-tippers from dumping rubbish at Hilltop car park, which has become a notorious spot for the crime.

Rubbish left at Hilltop car park.

Tom McVey, from the Mauchline Action Group, said: “Fly-tipping is a blight on every village and town in the country, nobody escapes it. It’s been an issue in a few areas and here in Mauchline and it’s just gotten worse and worse.

“They dump things from a van instead of taking it up five or six miles up the road to an amenity tip which costs them nothing. It happens on a regular basis.

“So we’re in the process of constructing a footpath and cycle path to the top of the hill and back down through the Tinkers Wood and down through a couple of fields.

“It’s a two and a half mile walk so we’ve been working on that for three years.

"We’re hoping that because there will be more footfall, there will be less opportunity to dump stuff up there. There’ll be lights around it and the carpark will be getting re-tarred.

"There will be a wildlife area for kids to see rabbits and birds, too, so it’s quite a project.”

A map of the Hilltop project. Map credit: Central Scotland Green Network Trust.

The Action Group still require around £30,000 in funding to fully complete the project.

The vantage point at the top of Mauchline Hill will be built with a large piece of granite from Ailsa Craig which the Action Group obtained from the village’s very own stone curling manufacturer, Kays Curling.

Tom added: “Over 200 people a day walk on that road back into the village, including kids on bikes, people with dogs, horses, and people in wheelchairs. At the moment you have to walk on the road, which is why we’re building the footpath.”