An election hustings has been organised for Kilwinning to give residents the chance to ask council candidates the questions they want answered.

The event, organised by Kilwinning Community Council, will be held in Kilwinning Bowling Club on April 19 from 7pm to 9pm.

Candidates will have the chance to persuade Kilwinning residents why they deserve their votes and voters will get the chance to ask questions of each candidate.

This will also be the first council election where 16 and 17-year-olds will get the chance to have their say on how the town is represented.

At the March meeting, Community Council Chair Jackie Hamilton said: “I’m interested in the community council arranging a hustings for our prospective candidates.

“We’ll have it in a neutral venue, Kilwinning Bowling Club have already said they would be quite interested in doing it.

The community council will be organising it and it would be chaired by somebody from the community council who has no affiliation to anybody who is standing or any political party.”

“Each candidate gets so many minutes to talk to put their case forward then the public get to ask questions.

“The whole point of it is trying to engage Kilwinning in the whole election. It’s about trying to encourage people to come forward and vote.”