Councillor Tom Marshall wants to avoid 'difficult tenancies' in the new council housing proposed for Largs by making sure locals get priority for the new developments.
The Conservative councillor has welcomed the decision by North Ayrshire Council to build new affordable council housing on the former Largs Academy school site, but said: "I have spoken with officers from the Housing Department to emphasise that preference in allocation of these houses is given to Largs residents due to the high local need. 
"Some of the recent allocations of council housing have resulted in difficult tenancies and it is important to avoid this." 
The range of housing comprises 28 sheltered houses which will enable a future planned rebuild of the sheltered housing units at St Colm’s Place in School Street.
There will also be 18 community bungalows suitable for a range of needs. 
The 22 supported accommodation units will provide purpose built housing for those persons who need close support. 
Finally the 54 terraced general needs houses will provide welcome accommodation for families and those who need to have a better standard of accommodation than at present. 
There is a great need for these types of housing in the Largs area. At present on the combined Housing Association and North Ayrshire Council waiting list there are around 8000 applications. Of those approximately 4000 have a real need for housing. There are plans by North Ayrshire Council and its partners to build around 1500 affordable /council houses. These in Largs are part of the total. 
There is also a great need for new private or market housing particularly for families that want to move from flats into houses with gardens and also for older people that want to downsize.
Councillor Marshall who is also chair of North Ayrshire Council planning committee said: “One of the current council planning policies for the North Coast demands that housing developers allocate 25 % of their development for affordable housing.
"This has acted as a great disincentive to new private building in the Largs area and has meant that there has been little new market housing in recent years . House prices in North Ayrshire have on average collapsed by up to 10% over the last ten years and have resulted in many more second ownership houses becoming even more affordable. So there is less need for new affordable housing. It is therefore important that this 25% barrier is removed as soon as possible to enable new housing to be built and to allow both young and old the opportunity to purchase the homes that they both need and want. I believe that the new Local Development Plan will consider making this welcome change."