North Ayrshire’s vacant sites are to benefit from a council investment of £2 million – with more than half of that funding pumped into the Three Towns.

The funding – secured from the Scottish Government’s Vacant Derelict Land Fund (VDLF) – will be used to revitalise areas to make them business-ready, commercially viable or ready for innovative community use.

The works include:

- Ardrossan North Shore (£1m) – contribution towards land remediation, potential site purchase and path completion.

- Moorpark Road, Stevenston (£60,000) – Greening of area.

The (VDLF) aims to tackle the presence of long-term vacant and derelict land in Scotland and in doing so stimulate economic growth/job creation, an improved environment and quality of life.

- Lochshore (£250,000) – Preliminary land remediation activities and improve access to site.

- Annickbank, Irvine (£80,000) – Development plans for Phase 3 of office pavilions.

- I3, Irvine (£750,000) – Access improvements and development work to provide infrastructure to meet occupier demand

Councillor Alex Gallagher, Cabinet Member for Economy, said: “Due to the historical loss of many industries here in North Ayrshire – such as ICI, Volvo, Ayrshire Metal Products and Shell – we have the third highest level of vacant and derelict land in Scotland.

“This funding is extremely welcome and will help us carry out some essential works on this land that will ensure that they are in a condition to be developed for commercial or community use.

“We’ve received allocations of £1.426m in 2016/17, £1.750m in 17/18 from the fund and this has allowed us to learn more about the condition of heavily contaminated sites, lever in other sources of funding and help us facilitate engagement with key stakeholders.

“These areas are really important strategic sites for us and this funding will really help us drive forward and ultimately bring them back to life.”