I hope you all enjoyed a lovely summer and were able to spend some well-earned quality time with friends and family.
The summer months are always a busy time for our communities and this year was no different with lots of galas, festivals and celebrations across the region.
I was fortunate enough to visit and enjoy the Marymass and Vikingar Festivals. Both were again brilliantly organised and a real celebration of everything that is good about our communities. A huge thanks and well done to all who were involved in events the length and breadth of the region over the last few weeks.
I was out on one of my locality visits – more details of this can be found on Staff News – at the end of August when myself and the Leader, Councillor Marie Burns, visited the Three Towns. Our first stop was the council’s new housing development at Fitzsimmons Wynd where I met our talented housing team and contractors Ashleigh (Scotland) Limited. We were shown around the site and we had the pleasure of getting a tour of one of the properties – while also hearing some great feedback from one of our tenants. It was great to find out more and chat to an extremely happy and content resident. It’s a fantastic development.
We then visited our low carbon hub towards the Harbour, which encompasses electric charging points and active travel routes which have been developed and upgraded. This took us all the way to the new Ardrossan Coastal Path which sits adjacent to new Ardrossan Coastal Development, with work on Ardrossan Community Campus currently underway. The path was officially opened later that afternoon and we are sure it will be a huge asset for local people and others who want to explore this part of our region.
It’s really exciting to see work underway on the new Campus as we continue to enhance our portfolio of schools across North Ayrshire. We are committed to giving our young people the very best opportunities and I was delighted too with our exam results that were released in August. An early analysis shows that we continue to achieve success at a range of levels in our schools across the authority. Well done to all our teachers and Education team for their continued hard work.
Our Employability team do a fantastic job in creating opportunities for our young people. They have been working closely with schools, local businesses and organisations to see how we can reach as many people as possible to create a resilient and robust economic model here in North Ayrshire.
Earlier this month, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Shirley-Anne Somerville, opened the new EQUAL Specialist Employability Support Hub at Lochshore in the Garnock Valley. The EQUAL team provides invaluable specialist service to support people to progress into sustainable employment. This is a fantastic initiative. Keep an eye on our website and social media channels for more details.
The visit was just one of a number of Scottish Government visits to North Ayrshire this year and this is a credit to the esteem we are held centrally. The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice was also here in January to visit Irvine Royal Academy to speak with the Head Teacher Linzie Sloan and staff to learn about the impactful work that is being carried out at the school to ensure financial constraints are not a barrier to children thriving. Jenny Gilruth MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Education, opened Montgomerie Park Primary School in June and met with our Education team and staff at the event. The Scottish Parliament’s Economy and Fair Work Committee were also here in June to learn more about Community Wealth Building and to hear from local community groups who have been positively impacted by it. It’s testament to all these teams that we are getting recognition from the Scottish Government.
We continue to make progress with a number of our Ayrshire Growth Deal projects including the coastal hub element of our Great Harbour Plans. Contractors McLaughlin Construction have been on site for a number of months and the new playpark now has an official name – Sea Monster Park– and this will soon be opening to mark a significant milestone in this development.
Our Digital Process Manufacturing Centre (DPMC) which was opened earlier this year is already attracting interest from businesses across Ayrshire and beyond. Our i3 Flexi Space project is progressing well and will deliver modern flexible advanced manufacturing floorspace at i3 Business Park in Irvine, which is a key strategic site for North Ayrshire Council. This new space complements the co-located DPMC creating a hub for innovation, research and development, and business growth.
Read more about other council updates in the latest edition of our Staff Talk magazine…