Knockroon is a planned development located between the towns of

Cumnock Cumnock (Scottish Gaelic: ''Cumnag'') is a town and former civil parish located in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The town sits at the confluence of the Glaisnock Water and the Lugar Water. There are three neighbouring housing projects which lie just o ...

and

Auchinleck Auchinleck ( ; sco, Affleck ;
gd, Achadh nan Leac

East Ayrshire East Ayrshire ( sco, Aest Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir an Ear) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquart ...

, Scotland. The development was initiated by

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

(later King Charles III) as part of his renovation plans for the nearby

Dumfries House Dumfries House (Scottish Gaelic: ''Taigh Dhùn Phris'') is a Palladian country house located in the town of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is within a large estate, around west of Cumnock. Noted for being one of the few such houses wit ...

estate, which he hoped would regenerate the local economy in this depressed area.

East Ayrshire Council East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

granted outline planning permission for 770 houses on 7 December 2009. The development of Knockroon was expected to continue over a 25-year period, backed by

The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment The Prince's Foundation (formerly the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture until 2001, the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment until 2012, and the Prince's Foundation for Building Community until 2018) is an educational charity est ...

, and is being designed on

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

principles. The first houses in the development were built by Hope Homes Scotland and ZeroC.

has expressed a personal interest in the development. Construction started in April 2011. In February 2019 ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'' reported that only 31 of the planned 770 homes had been built. In July 2022, ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' reported that the project's value "was written down from £15 million to £700,000". A leading Scottish architect, Professor Alan Dunlop, described the prince's vision as an "imported pastiche" and a "curious mix" of relatively expensive homes dropped into a rural setting that should have never been built.The Sunday Times report - 3 July 202

/ref> In July 2022, a spokesman for the

Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government with responsibility for the regulation of charities in Scotland. OSCR is the independent regulator and registrar for more than 24,000 Scottish ch ...

said "we can confirm that the work of Havisham Group and property transactions relating to the Knockroon development in Ayrshire forms part of our overall investigation, work on which is ongoing." Between 2012 and 2017, Havisham Properties, owned by Lord Brownlow, purchased 11 properties for £1.7 million on the Knockroon development. Brownlow had been a trustee of

The Prince's Foundation The Prince's Foundation (formerly the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture until 2001, the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment until 2012, and the Prince's Foundation for Building Community until 2018) is an educational charity est ...

between 2013 and 2018, serving for a period as Chairman.

References

External links

Knockroon website
Populated places established in 2009 New Urbanism communities Villages in East Ayrshire Geography of East Ayrshire New towns in Scotland 2009 establishments in Scotland Charles III New Classical architecture New towns started in the 2010s Cumnock {{EastAyrshire-geo-stub

See also

References

External links