Whisky giant drops plans for £150m facility in Ayrshire

Drinks giant Suntory Global Spirits has scrapped plans to build a controversial £150m whisky maturation facility in East Ayrshire.

Permission was granted last year for the site at South Drumboy farm in Kilmarnock, after the Scottish government ministers overruled environmental objections.

Suntory - which own American bourbon Jim Beam - had claimed the plant would bring about 45 jobs to the area.

It produces several Scotch whisky brands including Laphroaig, Bowmore, Auchentoshan, Teacher's, Glen Garioch, Ardmore, and Ardray.

Suntory said in a statement "While we are no longer progressing with the Kingswell project, we are redirecting investment to a local maturation facility.

"Our investment in Scotland will continue as we remain focused on the long-term sustainability of our operations, brands and contribution to the economy."

The firm told BBC News it could not provide details yet of the redirected investment.

It previously estimated the new facility would invest about £150m into Ayrshire.

The proposed facility would have held 500,000 barrels of spirits.

Planning approval

Objectors to the proposal had expressed concerns over noise levels from the site and the possible impact on residents' water supply.

They also questioned whether ethanol released through the barrels of whisky could cause the fungus black mould to appear.

One resident, who declined to be named, told BBC Scotland News they were relieved the plans have been abandoned.

They said: "There was a lot of concerns here about the potential effects on water supply and the way planning and approval was handled."

Last year Scottish government planning reporter David Buylla recommended the scheme be abandoned.

He was critical of the scale and design of the facility, and said he was not satisfied that more suitable alternative sites could not be found.

However, Scottish ministers overruled this saying Suntory had provided suitable reasons for why none of the proposed alternatives would have worked.

They said the design went "beyond a utilitarian warehousing development" and approved the plan.