Around 250 local people recently heard of the significant progress made in breathing new life into Irvine Bay during the past 12 months at the annual public meeting of Irvine Bay Regeneration Company.

The meeting – the first held outside Irvine and the first held in the evening – attracted a strong turnout to St. Matthew’s Academy in Saltcoats, with the theme “Building for the Future.”

Those attending heard the company’s Chief Executive, Patrick Wiggins, outline some of the real progress made since the previous year. And he maintained solid progress would continue to be made, due to the continued funding commitment made to the company by the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and North Ayrshire Council.

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However delivering the company’s full programme of work in the coming years will cost around £10 million per year, he said; Irvine Bay would require to continue with its successful record of attracting additional sources of funding, such as European funds, Historic Scotland funding and Heritage Lottery funding, to bridge the gap.

He said: “We are very happy that our core funders have continued to support us at existing levels at a time when public funding is under a great deal of pressure, and we view this as a real endorsement of our activity and of our plans for the area.

“However, delighted as we are with the contributions being made we know that we will have to continue to be innovative in accessing alternative funding sources, and we are making real progress in doing so.”

Mr Wiggins pointed to a number of areas where genuine progress had been made during the past 12 months, and where he expected to see further activity.

Mr Wiggins said: “These all show significant progress, and we are confident that we can maintain that progress in the coming year.

“We have seen a focus on Ardrossan because that is where we had the opportunities, and now we are seeing a focus on Irvine as the area’s biggest town which has a real impact on the wider area. However it is our intention to continue to progress work in all of the five towns as funds and opportunities allow in line with the town regeneration plans.”

(GK)