Plans are beginning to take shape on how to use major government funding to give Irvine's town centre a new lease of life.

On September 30, the UK Government announced that 55 towns across the UK would each benefit from £20 million of investment over 10 years through the Levelling Up Fund.

Irvine was identified as one of seven towns in Scotland to receive the cash from the fund - with Kilmarnock also set to receive £20m.

On Tuesday, North Ayrshire Council's cabinet approved an interim governance structure for the work, and made a start on work to develop a long-term plan for the investment.

A  further meeting will be held in January 2024 to develop the sub-group.

Representation of the group will be informed by engagement with the Locality Partnership and Connected Communities.

By April, local authorities will bring local partners together to form town boards or expand existing arrangements and start the process of setting out a long-term vision based on local priorities.

Next spring, once a town board (or equivalent) has been formed, capacity funding will be released to support the development of investment plans, including additional community engagement activities.

It was agreed that a sub-group of the Irvine Locality Partnership be formed and will include representatives from the local community, local business, social enterprise, local authority and public sector interests.

From summer 2024, there will be submission of long-term plans and release of year one funding.

To ensure that long-term plans reflect local priorities, improvements can be identified under three broad investment themes which are safety and security; high streets; and transport and connectivity.

At Tuesday's meeting, Councillor Tony Gurney, cabinet member for green environment and economy, asked: “What timescale do we have for this?  You could call it challenging; we are going to have to have a plan by summer.

“Do we know what detail we would need to have by then?”

Official Louise Kirk said: “This is something we have highlighted to the UK Government, given it is a challenging timescale. We have to do the initial review of the previous consultations.

“It is to reflect on and check on those priorities, to see if they are still valid for communities, and help inform and direct the plan going forward.

“It will be a very high level plan in summer 2024 and, thereafter, the redevelopment of that project would come forward in the forthcoming years.”

The UK Government’s long-term plan for towns (LTPFT) prospectus, as part of the Levelling Up Fund will invest £1.1 billion into 55 towns across the UK. The LTPFT seeks to place local people at the heart of the decision-making process and to provide the funding to support delivery.

Some £20m in endowment-style funding and support will be given over 10 years to support the plan’s delivery. It aims to ensure a focus on long-term strategic transformation as well as shorter-term improvement.