AN IRVINE councillor has voiced his concern about plans to increase the number of wards in the town.

John Easdale, councillor for the Irvine East ward, is deeply unhappy with the proposals to separate Broomlands from the Bourtreehill area and using Towerlands Road as the boundary line.

The councillor believes the move would risk damaging the link that Broomlands and Bourtreehill have formed and would cause a divide due to meetings about the areas now being separate.

Mr Easdale has urged the Boundary Commission to reconsider and keep both areas in the same ward.

He said: “Both these areas were all built in the mid 1970s and are generally the same style of houses, with the same housing, environment and social issues which would be more efficiently dealt with by a councillor that represents both areas.

“To underline this point, the area currently has two separate active associations - the Bourtreehill and Broomlands Community Association and Bourtreehill and Broomlands Tenants & Residents Association, who both separately meet monthly to discuss and try and resolve local issues along with running the local community hall which is a meeting place for the many organisations in the area.

“Age Concern also have a very active organisation in the area called Broomlands and Bourtreehill Age Concern, mainly for the older residents of both areas and there is also the Bourtreehill and Broomlands Baptist Church.

“In addition there are two primary schools, St John Ogilvie in Bourtreehill which is a Roman Catholic school and Elderbank in Broomlands which is a non-denominational school. Both have Bourtreehill and Broomlands as their catchment area. Both of the areas in the current Irvine East Ward are classified as Irvine new town, however the commission’s proposal to link Broomlands with Dreghorn and Springside is out of sync with the new town plan, as the community in Broomlands has more in common with Bourtreehill, than of these two lovely old ex-mining villages.” North Ayrshire Council agree with Councillor Easdale’s concerns and are urging residents to express their opinion at the public consultation.

A spokesperson said: “We have spoken to Councillor Easdale about the Boundary Commission’s proposals and share his concerns over the plans for Bourtreehill and Broomlands.

“We are unhappy with a number of the suggestions for North Ayrshire and Arran and previously wrote to the commission to express our disappointment.

“We plan to meet with them in the near future, where the changes for Bourtreehill and Broomlands will certainly be on the agenda. These proposals are currently subject to public consultation before the commission submits its final recommendation to Scottish Ministers. We would urge people to use this opportunity to express any concerns they may have.”