Developed alongside residents, Our Council Plan 2023-28 describes how the Council works in partnership to fulfil its aim of ‘A North Ayrshire that is fair for all’.
It does this by focusing on four priorities of:
• Wellbeing
• Communities and Local Democracy
• Climate Change and
• A Sustainable Council
•
A paper titled Our Council Plan Progress Report Year End 2025 to 2026 was presented to Cabinet on Tuesday 1 September, showing that the Council has continued to progress its priorities in line with Best Value legislation in the six months from 1 October, 2025 to 31 March 2026.
Under the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, councils have a duty to demonstrate Best Value.
This duty requires councils to effectively manage resource, focus on improvement and deliver best possible outcomes for residents.
The most recent progress report shows that the Council has made steady progress over the six-month period, with 84 per cent of performance indicators - where the status is known - either on target or close to being on target.
This figure compares with 75 per cent for the year end in 2024-25.
The Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) is used by local authorities across Scotland to compare their performance and learn from each other, with the aim of ensuring transparency and continuous improvements.
This covers a wide range of areas including the proportion of senior pupils entering positive destinations, CO2 emissions area-wide per capita and the percentage of unemployed people who are supported into work through Council programmes.
When it comes to the LGBF data up to April 2026, the Council is performing well, with 20 of its 33 priority indicators in the top half of all local authorities – compared with 17 of 33 in June last year.
Key highlights in the Our Council Plan Year End Progress Report, for each Council priority, include:
Wellbeing
• During 2025 to 2026, our welfare rights and money advice service, Money Matters, helped increase residents’ income by more than £20 million.
• Strong progress has been made in delivering new and affordable homes through an expanded housing investment programme, increasing targets and advancing key developments to meet local housing need. 431 homes have been completed during 2025 to 2026.
Communities and Local Democracy
• More than £800,000 of funding has been secured in partnership with the Scottish Government’s Islands Programme to support key projects on Arran, enhancing community facilities and infrastructure in line with national priorities.
• Throughout the year, a total of 489 groups were supported to access external funding, and 431 adults as well as 1,955 of our young people gained recognised national awards during 2025 to 2026.
Climate Change
• The pioneering solar PV farm at Nethermains, between Irvine and Kilwinning, has now moved into the Operation and Maintenance Phase. This is the first facility of its kind to be owned and operated by a Scottish local authority – while the Shewalton solar PV farm is also up and running
• A tree planting exercise was completed in January with a total of 8,050 trees being planted, bringing the running total to more than 65,000 to date.
Sustainable Council
• The Council’s scheduled Controller of Audit Best Value report, the main audit for all local authorities, was considered by the Accounts Commission in October and Council in December. The findings were extremely positive, with the Council receiving praise for being “an exemplar” when it comes to change and innovation.
• Budget engagement activity generated strong community input, with more than 1,100 responses helping to shape a £485 million budget, including investment in renewable energy and measures to reduce child poverty.
The work and services that are outlined in the Council Plan are central to ensuring we achieve a North Ayrshire that is fair for all.
Council Leader Tony Gurney said: “It is encouraging to see that our percentage of performance indicators classed as either ‘on target’ or ‘close to being on target’ has increased since last year’s Year End Progress Reporting on Our Council Plan.
“This report clearly demonstrates that we are making continued progress, and I would like to thank staff in all Council departments for their ongoing good work in delivering vital services that make a real difference to residents, visitors and businesses.”
Cabinet approved the Year End Progress Report, which will be presented to the Audit and Scrutiny Committee for consideration on 19 November.