A FIVE-YEAR plan to make North Ayrshire a fairer and more equal society for residents and communities has been given the rubber stamp.

The council plan titled ‘North Ayrshire: A Council that is Fair for All’ was formally approved at the latest full council meeting and covers the five-year period between 2019 and 2024.

To achieve its aim of reducing inequality the council’s new priorities are centred on ‘aspiring communities’ – covering all people services including education, employability, health and wellbeing, community safety and community empowerment - and ‘inspiring place’ – covering infrastructure, housing, sustainability and the environment.

As well as setting out a new strategic approach, the plan also outlines several ambitious projects to be undertaken relating to the issues facing residents in North Ayrshire.

Ensuring local people and businesses benefit from the wealth of the council and other major public sector organisations is one key task as the council develops a Community Wealth Building strategy.

Tackling fuel poverty and reducing carbon emissions are other big areas of focus for the local authority with the council looking to enlist the views of young people in helping to shape the Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change strategy for 2020 as part of a long-standing ambition to reduce carbon emissions by 2023.

In addition, the plan also involves the development of a Community Charter that will see the council and local communities come together and set out priorities that they jointly commit to achieve to help improve localities.

Council Leader, Joe Cullinane, said: “We want nothing more than a North Ayrshire that is free from inequalities and deprivation. For it to be a kind society where no child grows up in poverty, where the economy is inclusive, and everyone has the same life chances to have fulfilling and healthy lives.

“That’s why fairness and equity are at the heart of our new council plan. We want it to be the catalyst for bold, innovative and pioneering decisions that will help root out poverty and inequalities and essentially make life better and easier for all our residents.”