Nearly 300 council houses have been fitted with solar panels in North Ayrshire. 

And new wall insulation costing £3million has been added to 441 properties to keep in heat since 2019.

Solar panels have been installed on the rooftops of 290 new and older council homes, which is saving tenants £188 per year. The goal is to fit the renewable energy panels to 500 homes by March next year. 

Council leader Joe Cullinane (Labour) revealed the measures at a full council meeting this week in response to a question from Councillor Ian Murdoch.

The Independent politician asked Cllr Culinane: “What have North Ayrshire Council done to improve and protect the environment since declaring a climate change emergency?”

Cllr Cullinane responded with an answer of more than 1,300 words detailing what the council has rolled out to help the planet so far. 

The Kilwinning Labour politician said: “Since declaring a climate emergency in June 2019 and committing to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, the council has continued to significantly reduce carbon emissions, achieving a 44.6 per cent reduction by 2019 to 2020.”

Councillor Cullinane said the council is spending £500,000 on tree planting to “remove carbon emissions from the atmosphere.”

He said another £500,000 will go towards creating green jobs. 

Describing how the council is using fewer petrol and diesel cars, he said: “The electric vehicle fleet currently consists of 22 vehicles, which is 3.7 per cent of the fleet. This will be increased by an additional 11 vehicles in quarter one of 2021 to 2022, increasing our overall electric vehicles to over five per cent of the current fleet and rising.”

The council also plans to build a £6.76 million solar photo voltaic farm on the  Nethermains former landfill site. 

Councillor Cullinane highlighted other climate change strategies including relaxed grass cutting to boost biodiversity and increased use of LED lighting.