Progress report on North Ayrshire Council’s five-year plan
A mid-year progress report on North Ayrshire Council’s five-year plan has been approved by administration councillors.
The plan, which covers 2023 to 2028, lays out the council’s strategic priorities, and also identifies key priorities and activities for delivery during the period.
Developed alongside communities, it shows how the council aims to work in partnership and fulfil its commitment to be ‘Fair For All’ and was approved by Council in June 2023.
The priorities are specified as:
- “Wellbeing – developing a wellbeing economy, delivering prosperity, wellbeing and resilience for local people. This will focus on tackling inequalities through supporting people into training and employment; promoting a Fair Work economy; improving educational attainment, closing the poverty-related attainment gap and maintaining a place we can all be proud of where people want to live, work and visit.
- “Communities and Local Democracy – having active, inclusive and resilient communities. This builds on the great community networks we already have in North Ayrshire and seeks to further strengthen relationships with communities at a locality level, creating the environment for them to grow and ensuring all residents can take part in and influence local democracy.
- “Climate Change – our aim of achieving net-zero by 2030. This will centre on embedding net-zero ambition in all decision making; reducing the Council’s estate carbon footprint; protecting the environment; supporting local businesses as they meet their climate change obligations and working with communities to adopt low carbon behaviour change and
- “A Sustainable Council – further developing as a Community Wealth Building Council that is efficient, accessible, maximises investment and focuses resources towards our priorities.”
Council leader Marie Burns said: “We developed the plan together with our communities and agreed that improving the lives of our people should be at the core of it.
“This update to Cabinet indicates that we are moving in the right direction in many important areas, including helping unemployed people progress into work – with 652 out-of-work residents being supported into jobs against a target of 450.
“Street cleanliness rates and our success in bringing empty properties back into use are other areas that we are doing well in and should be proud of.
“We have also reached several Ayrshire Growth Deal milestones, and launched a £350,000 Community Net Zero Carbon Fund that supports community groups looking to improve or install renewable energy technology – for example solar panels – on their land and buildings.”