SNP councillor Alan Hill heaped praise on new North Coast committee chair Alex Gallagher after the Labour member’s changes to the committee meetings “showed how the SNP had significantly improved the area”.

Describing Councillor Gallagher as the ‘temporary chair’ of the committee, Cllr Hill said that the introduction of regular reports which update councillors on activities, initiatives and ongoing work had made him “realise how much of an improvement had been made”.

He said: “I was initially a bit dubious about the motivation of my Labour colleague for altering the agenda, but now I am delighted. I knew that, since the SNP took control of the North Ayrshire from the dead hand of Cllr Gallagher’s Labour Party, that we had significantly improved matters in this area. However,thanks to his new agenda we can now see the full extent of these improvements.

“Since the SNP assumed control of North Ayrshire , we have seen in Largs proposals for a new £52m state of the art school campus, a new dementia day care centre is about to be delivered, new social housing has been delivered, improvements are currently being planned to the north prom and town centre andimprovements have already been delivered to the south prom.

Cllr Hill also cited the work to improve cycle ways between Fairlie and Hunterston, efforts to make the A78 through Fairlie safer, improvements to the pier, the partnership with the Field Studies Council on Cumbrae, the progress with Skelmorlie Community Sports Club and the development of social housing.

He added: “After decades of being ignored by Labour, it is clear that the SNP is delivering significant and long overdue improvements in this area. And it is not just here, the SNP is delivering right across North Ayrshire – restoring neglected public buildings, building new schools and houses and regenerating our town centres.”