The site of a former primary school in Stevenston is set to come back into use, nearly 40 years after the school was demolished.
The land on Garven Road - which formerly housed Ardeer Primary School - has lain derelict since it was demolished in the 1980s.
Back in November of 2022, Cunninghame Housing Association (CHA) had plans to build 20 homes on the site, which is designated for housing in North Ayrshire Council’s local development plan, approved by the local authority.
It was the latest property proposal for the land - which is sandwiched between Garven Road and Morris Moodie Avenue - to be approved after planning permission was previously granted in 2007 for the erection of 19 terraced homes, with further consent given in 2009 for 20 houses.
Neither of those plans ever came to fruition and back in May there were similar fears that this could be the case for the latest development.
A member of the public brought concerns to the Herald that the Garven Road development plans had been halted after the proposals had been removed from the 'future developments' section of the housing association's website.
However, at the time, CHA said that it was not the case that the development has been axed - and that it was just waiting on funding being secured to ensure it could proceed as planned.
A representative from CHA explained that they had submitted the project to the Scottish Government for funding approval and that a decision was yet to be received on whether they could proceed as planned.
Now, it has been confirmed that the development can officially go ahead after funding was secured at the project was placed back on the association's website.
A tender to carry out the work by Ashleigh Scotland Limited has been accepted, and a start date for ground to be broken is only weeks away.
A representative of Cunninghame Housing Association explained: "The association secured grant funding to support the new build development project at Garven Road Stevenston in August 2023.
"This has allowed us to accept the tender submitted by Ashleigh Scotland Limited to carry out the work.
"The contractor will commence work on site on September 25, 2023.
"A total of 20 new homes will be built for affordable rent and overall completion is expected late summer 2024."
The social housing development is to be comprised of 18 two-storey houses and two bungalows - including one wheelchair-accessible property.
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