By Mike Lloyd for BBC News Online Scotland

And they are hoping their approach will become a model for cleaning up other schemes across Scotland.

Lochside is hoping to clean up the area

Co-operation is the key to success, according to the secretary of the local Tenants and Residents association, Hannah Bell.

"A bunch of tenants have got together with the police and the local council housing department, and we seem to be doing a no bad job."

Mrs Bell says they were fed up with the reputation their scheme was getting, not to mention the danger from the dealers and addicts.

"It was really terrifying, they were carrying knives, you were unsure about walking the streets at night.

Concerted action

Local councillor, Douglas Campbell estimates that at one stage 20 out the 180 houses in the scheme were bring used by dealers.

"They need a density of dealers so that if people come looking for drugs they know they are going to find them - and you also need apathy from residents."

Community policeman Billy Cooper says apathy evaporated as locals realised the size of the problem.

"We had queues of addicts waiting in the street, it was like a doctors surgery, people from all over Ayr.'

Along with his colleague, PC David Murray, he helped the residents in their battle, "I was worried they would take things into their own hands!"

Methods used included installing CCTV and pulling down hedgerows to remove hiding places.

As well, the South Ayrshire Council Housing Department threatened to evict proved dealers and refused to let houses in the scheme to people whose motives seemed suspect.

As a result, dealers have quit the worst affected street already and PC Cooper says it's only a matter of time before the few remaining nearby leave.

Clean up model?

Hannah Bell considers the community effort could be mirrored elsewhere, " ...people will think, if they could do it, so can we," she said.

PC Cooper says already another nearby scheme has set up a vetting panel for new residents, with full Council approval, but he's worried that the initiative may just be moving the problem on.