IN 2003, Labour dominated the council, winning some 23 seats and 49.3% of the vote, and even bucking the national trend by recording an increase in seats. The SNP meanwhile, numbered eight councillors - a drop of six on its previous showing, courtesy of internal rowing - while the Conservatives could muster only a solitary representative.

Across much of the area, in former mining communities and towns such as Cumnock and Kilmarnock, the generational lure of the Labour vote remains strong. Indeed, politically, East Ayrshire's adminstration is regarded as far more efficient than its two counterparts.

A key issue at the polls next month, which will see 32 councillors elected to nine wards, will be how the various parties propose to regenerate once thriving areas which have suffered from long-term neglect, unemployment, and dilapidated physical infrastructures.

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