Residents living in a block of flats near a primary school have been ordered by councillors to clean up their act.

North Ayrshire Council’s planning committee heard on Wednesday that there have been complaints about a dumping ground beside a four-storey block in Morrison Court, Stevenston, since February 2022.

Household furniture had been dumped, although some items had been cleared, while the windows at the southern side had been smashed.

Further complaints have been received by both the planning and Streetscene departments this year regarding the state of the area.

The site is the only access to St John’s Primary School and is highly visible to visitors.

It adjoins the northern boundary of the school and the site is also visible from within the school itself and playground.

Items dumped included white goods, household items and furniture. The area used is a former bin store which is now just a makeshift dumping ground.

It was proposed that residents be given six weeks to clean the area up.

Planning vice-chair Timothy Billings suggested residents be given slightly longer to address the issue to try and establish who owned all the different properties.

However, Saltcoats councillor Davina McTiernan insisted it was time to act and said: “This has been ongoing and I have had consistent complaints about this, there is vermin there, so I think the sooner the better.”

It was unanimously agreed to serve a notice under Section 179 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 asking residents to:

Remove all waste, household items, refuse and litter from the site and;

Board the smashed ground floor window openings on the southern elevation with exterior grade plywood or similar and fix shut any open, but not smashed, window openings.

It was agreed that six weeks would be given from the date of any notice taking effect in which to carry out the requirements.