North Ayrshire plans £10m estate regeneration project

North Ayrshire Council is set to launch a multi-million-pound regeneration of its council housing estates.

The council’s cabinet meets tomorrow (January 15) to consider the proposals, which would see improvement works carried out across North Ayrshire.

A minimum of £10million would be invested in addressing a range of issues such as external appearance, parking provision, road and footpath condition, anti-social behaviour, fencing, landscaping and general grounds maintenance issues.

The plans follow a successful pilot project, in Bourtreehill, Irvine.

This trial saw the creation of more than 230 additional parking spaces and grounds maintenance improvements carried out to improve the amenity of the area.

This has led to a wider analysis of council estates across North Ayrshire, allowing the council to prioritise regeneration projects.

The aims of the regeneration programme include:

• Further improvement in stock condition, which is already at a very high level. A recent report shows that over 99% of the local authority’s stock is compliant with the Scottish Housing Quality Standard
• Further improvement in value for money. Over 92% of its tenants consider that their rent represents value for money
• Further improvement in environmental sustainability, building on the 97.4% of properties which already meet the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing, and make overall, co-ordinated improvements to the attractiveness of the neighbourhoods.

Cabinet member for place, Cllr Jim Montgomerie, said: ‘This project shows how committed we are to ensuring our council tenants have the best possible quality of life.

‘Our recent Tenant Satisfaction Survey showed that the overwhelming majority of our tenants – 93 per cent – were satisfied with the Council as a landlord with 92 per cent believing they get good value for money from their rent.

‘But we are always striving to do even better and that’s why we are looking to invest at least £10m in the regeneration of our estates over the coming years.’

Among the first areas to be selected as part of the proposed estate-based regeneration programme are:

• Castlepark, Irvine – infrastructure improvements and grounds maintenance
• Woodburn Road, Beith – fencing improvements
• Highfield Street, Kilwinning – infrastructure improvements
• Moorburn Road, Largs – fencing improvements
• Kilmahew Street, Ardrossan – infrastructure improvements