250917 Special Council Minute (Final)
North Ayrshire Council · 5 November 2025
Back to North Ayrshire Council — 5 November 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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North Ayrshire Council 17 September 2025 At a Special Meeting of North Ayrshire Council at 5.05 p.m. involving a combination of participation by remote electronic means and physical attendance within the Council Chambers, Irvine. Present (Physical Participation) Nairn Angus-McDonald, Marie Burns, Eleanor Collier, Joe Cullinane, Scott Davidson, Anthea Dickson, Stewart Ferguson, Todd Ferguson, Robert Foster, Tony Gurney, Alan Hill, Mary Hume, Cameron Inglis, Margaret Johnson, Christina Larsen, Shaun Macaulay, Louise McLaughlan, Matthew McLean, Davina McTiernan, Jim Montgomerie, Ian Murdoch, Donald L. Reid, Chloé Robertson, Ronnie Stalker and John Sweeney. Present (Remote Electronic Participation) John Bell, Charles Currie and Jean McClung In Attendance C. Hatton, Chief Executive; S. Anson, Executive Director (Education); C. Cameron, Director (Health and Social Care Partnership); D. Hammond, Executive Director (Communities and Housing); L. Kirk, Head of Service (Economic Development, Growth & Regeneration) (Place); M. Boyd, Head of Service (Finance); F. Walker, Head of Service (People and ICT); A. Craig, Head of Service (Democratic), R. Lynch, Senior Manager (Legal Services); M. McColm, Senior Manager (Communications), C. Stewart, Committee Services Officer, and H. Young, Senior Committee Services Officer (Democratic) (Corporate Services). Chair Provost Dickson in the Chair. Apologies Angela Stephen. 1. Provost's Remarks The Provost welcomed those present to the meeting and dealt with preliminary matters, including intimation that the meeting, which was taking place on a hybrid basis, was being recorded. 2. Apologies The Provost invited intimation of apologies for absence, which were recorded. 3. Declarations of Interest There were no declarations of interest in terms of Standing Order 11 and Section 5 of the Councillors' Code of Conduct. There were no declarations of the Party Whip.
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4. Review of the Scheme of the Establishment of Community Councils: Outcome of First Stage of Consultation of the Review Submitted report by the Head of Service (Democratic) on the outcome of the first period of public consultation on the current review of the Scheme of Establishment of Community Councils. The existing Scheme of Establishment of Community Councils was set out at Appendix 1, summarised consultation responses received set out at Appendix 2, the full redacted version of responses received set out at Appendix 3, Officer comment on the existing Scheme with initial suggestions for amendment to include some provisions of the Model Scheme of Establishment published by Scottish Government set out at Appendix 4 and an amendment to the process for holding contested elections set out at Appendix 5 to the report. Councillor Hill, seconded by Councillor Macaulay, moved the approval of the recommendations set out in the officer’s report. As an amendment Councillor McLean, seconded by Councillor S. Ferguson, proposed the following: To accept the recommendations of the report but adding scope for the consultation: • Engage with Dreghorn Community Council regarding a) merging Springside Community Council into a larger Dreghorn and Springside Community Council and b) regarding their ‘southern’ boundary. • To engage with Irvine Community Council on the following issues and proposals: 1. Clarify if changing Irvine Community Council’s boundaries will lead to a loss of access to funding ‘tied to the KA12/old Burgh’ designation 2. To seek views on keeping boundaries as they are – no change 3. To seek views on a whole of Irvine Community Council boundary – merging the currently defunct Girdle Toll Community Council 4. To seek views on the boundary model used by South and East Ayrshire Councils for Ayr and Kilmarnock respectively, where they divide the largest towns into smaller communities/estates – e.g. Girdle Toll, Lawthorn and Montgomery Park/Bourtreehill & Broomlands/Fullerton and the Harbourside/Castlepark and Town Centre etc. • To consider the creation of a Drybridge Community Council – recognising its unique small village status – which could also resolve the Dreghorn southern boundary area • To continue engagement with those not currently on community councils, particularly in areas where Councils are not operating. The Monitoring Officer provided clarification that the amendment was proposing further consultation with communities to obtain views for further consideration of Council on the areas specified which would be reported to Council .
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In terms of Standing Order 16.5, and with the agreement of his seconder, Councillor Hill agreed to amend his motion in accordance with the amendment which became the substantive motion. Accordingly, the Council agreed as follows: (a) to note the feedback received; (b) that an amended draft Scheme of Establishment of Community Councils was prepared; (c) to postpone the formal second stage of the review to allow (i) further engagement with Community Councils to take place as we formulate the new scheme prior to presenting to Council and (ii) Community Councils the opportunity to hold their scheduled elections this year prior to the Scheme of Establishment being finalised; (d) that the suggested timetable referred to in the report to the Special Meeting of Council on 14 May 2025 was paused and that an amended timetable be brought to a future Special Meeting of the Council once the additional period of engagement and scheduled elections (if desired) had taken place; (e) to receive further reports to Special Meetings of Council on the review; (f) to engage with Dreghorn Community Council regarding i) merging Springside Community Council into a larger Dreghorn and Springside Community Council and ii) regarding their ‘southern’ boundary; (g) to engage with Irvine Community Council on the following issues and proposals: • Clarify if changing Irvine Community Council’s boundaries will lead to a loss of access to funding ‘tied to the KA12/old Burgh’ designation • To seek views on keeping boundaries as they are – no change • To seek views on a whole of Irvine Community Council boundary – merging the currently defunct Girdle Toll Community Council • To seek views on the boundary model used by South and East Ayrshire Councils for Ayr and Kilmarnock respectively, where they divide the largest towns into smaller communities/estates – e.g. Girdle Toll, Lawthorn and Montgomery Park/Bourtreehill & Broomlands/Fullerton and the Harbourside/Castlepark and Town Centre etc. (h) to consider the creation of a Drybridge Community Council – recognising its unique small village status – which could also resolve the Dreghorn southern boundary area; and (i) to continue engagement with those not currently on community councils, particularly in areas where Councils are not operating. The meeting ended at 5:15 p.m.