A NEW ‘employability’ hub is coming to Cumnock as part of East Ayrshire Council plans to spend more than £6 million of UK Government cash in the area.

The money is the result of a successful bid to the Westminster government’s £2.6 billion ‘shared prosperity fund’.

The Cumnock hub is one of 13 projects covering locations across East Ayrshire worth a total of £6.103m.

The money will be spent by March 31, 2025 after members of East Ayrshire Council’s cabinet rubber-stamped the spending plans at a meeting last week.

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The plan identifies four investment priorities: communities and place; supporting local business; people and skills; and Multiply, an adult numeracy programme.

Commenting on the plan’s approval, the local authority’s leader, Councillor Douglas Reid, said: “All the projects proposed in this plan support the delivery of our existing strategic plans.

“We’ve already had great success with our employability hub at SL33 in Kilmarnock, and this funding will enable us to continue with our expansion into similar hubs in Darvel and Cumnock while updating the BTTC hub in Dalmellington.

“We’ll be allocating £400k to help with Employment Growth – enabling companies to grow their workforce”.

View the council’s report on the Shared Prosperity Fund on the authority’s website (east-ayrshire.gov.uk).