Irvine Bay and North Ayrshire Council remain committed to delivering a comprehensive regeneration of Kilwinning Main Street.

As indicated to previous town regeneration plan meetings, meeting of the Community Council and the Kilwinning Area Committee, the timetable for Kilwinning Main Street improvements has always been to begin the work in the early part of 2009, and this is still the intention.

It is estimated that the work we're hoping to deliver will cost over £2 million. There is an enormous amount of work required to successfully deliver a project of this scale. North Ayrshire Council has committed their initial investment of £200,000, and Irvine Bay is driving the programme for securing the additional money for the work. The formal consultation documents are nearing completion, and these will be used for our discussion with local residents, retailers and groups such as taxi operators and disabled groups. The timetable for this is dictated by the statutory process.

The original meeting programme for the Kilwinning town regeneration plan has been extended. The meeting scheduled for later this month has indeed been postponed for another few weeks, but this does not impact upon the Main Street work.

This is an exciting time for Irvine Bay, and a huge amount of work is involved in crystallising all of the many ideas that have been put forward for inclusion in the towns' regeneration plans (of which Kilwinning is one of five). This has meant greater consultation has been needed to ensure that all of those with a stake in delivering a bright new future for Irvine Bay are fully involved.

We understand a planning application to North Ayrshire Council has been submitted on Tesco's behalf. Irvine Bay Regeneration Company has made Tesco aware of the potential future work on the main street but is not directly involved in their refurbishment programme.

To conclude, we actively encourage people to get in touch with us should they have any questions or concerns. We will be only too happy to provide an update on progress.

Kirsty Innes, Marketing Manager

01294 608634 info@irvinebayurc.co.uk