UPBEAT North Ayrshire Council depute leader Shaun Macaulay is heartened with the progress made by the SNP administration since they took power in May.

In the first of two interviews by the local democracy reporting service, he looks back on what were considered the main achievements of the party in power during their first seven months.

The council administration has faced strong opposition from a Labour group who are still smarting from taking third place in the poll and are kept in check by the Tory opposition.

Cllr Macaulay said: “When we took on the administration in May we were faced with the cost-of-living crisis, so one of the things we quickly had to see was how we were going to deal with it and see people through the summer holidays and look ahead into the winter months. 

“The decisions we made in June had Christmas in mind and one of the things we knew was coming was the energy crisis. So back in June, although bills were high, we knew they would go up again in October.

“We got the Energy Support Scheme up and running from the beginning of November. 

“There was £450,000 made available for payments to people and we set up a phone line so that people could call the number and we could direct them to the best support, as we found some people were not getting the benefits they were entitled to from the UK Government and the Scottish Government.  

“About £250,000 has been given to people so far through this scheme.”

Families, he said, were also helped through other vital support from the council.

“The families received money directly through the top up of the Scottish Government bridging payment," he added.

“We took a bold step and listened to family and food charities who said they needed dignity and to spend money how they saw fit through cash in their pockets.

"They got a £100 top-up in the summer holidays, £100 in the October holidays and then £100 at Christmas time.

“Because the Scottish Government doubled the bridging payment already we are topping it up by another £100 at Christmas which makes £360.

“Families said it was a lifesaver and it stopped them going into debt.

“We set up a Child Poverty Board to help and there were assemblies from people in the local community to talk about different things and the feedback we got from this was phenomenal.

“We knew we couldn’t be all things to all people as a lot of things are out-with our control but we said the priorities over the next five years were tackling child poverty, tackling climate change and supporting local democracy.

“Climate change is one of the most important things. Energy prices are so high because we rely on oil from Russia and we have renewable energy in Scotland which we can produce and this might not see bills as high as that.”