SPENDING on asbestos removal in North Ayrshire Council has almost doubled in just a year.

And the vast majority of the money being spent is on residential properties, tipping the scales at over £900,000.

But North Ayrshire Council say the increase, which is up from around £500,000, is due to the identification of a certain house type and their pro-active work to tackle the issue for their residents.

Over the last three years the spending on inspecting, treating and removing asbestos in North Ayrshire Council-owned buildings was:

2014-15 - £492,371.55

2015-16 - £561,726.20

2016-17 - £969,265.40.

The breakdown for the types of buildings that the works have been carried out in was:

Residential

2014-15 - £431,068.55

2015-16 - £490,856.07

2016-17 - £922,124.98

Schools

2014-15 - £41,438.00

2015-16 - £49,493.82

2016-17 - £38,585.64

Commercial / Operational

2014-15 - £19,865.00

2015-16 - £21,376.31

2016-17 - £8,554.78

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “The increase in spending on asbestos inspection and removal during 2016 reflects our proactive approach to removing asbestos from a number of properties within our housing stock.

“This project was approved by Cabinet in September 2016 following the identification of the presence of asbestos-containing material in a small number of our Council houses.

“The material was found during routine sampling in the loft spaces of a particular type of property known to be of Weir construction, which account for around five per cent of the Council’s housing stock.

“The Council has been working closely with industry experts on this issue and they confirmed that the type of asbestos-containing material concerned presented an extremely low risk provided it is not disturbed.”

The Times reported earlier this year how up to 600 homes were affected across North Ayrshire which would potentially cost around £1.7million.