A NEW £1 million kitty is available for various coastal improvements throughout North Ayrshire - including Largs.


The leader of the Labour administration this week said it was good news for the local area and claimed the pot could provide everything from new seafront benches to additional parking and more litter bins.
Council chief Joe Cullinane says the local authority wants to capitalise on the boom brought by the demand for staycations and improve local tourist hotspots.
He said: "We want to continue the good feel factor from this summer.
"We have £500,000 going to coastal playparks and £850,000 for general infrastructure improvements.
"The council officers are going to be meeting with local councillors to see whether local improvements can be made and lessons learnt from this summer season to improve for next year.
"The £850,000 will all go towards improvements on our coastline and that could be anything from bins to benches.
"Likewise, the £500,000 set aside for coastal swing parks, we want to know what locals would like to see."
However the funding doesn't look like it will be expanded to improve the public loos problem.
Councillor Tom Marshall recently told the News that with an elderly population he wanted to see the council invest more in public conveniences and said it was unacceptable that many were closed in 2017.
Councillor Cullinane said: "Most of the challenges with Largs public toilets are operational issues, which are currently being looked into.
"Tom is right that it was a political decision to remove the budget for public toilets in 2016, one made by a previous SNP council administration.
"It was agreed at the time that Largs would retain some public provision by using the seafront car park fund.
"I think what is interesting in terms of this is that no councillor in North Ayrshire Council has raised any motion or amendment in the past five years asking for further investment in public toilets in the North Coast area.
"And anyone who does want public toilet investment has to explain a financial package as to how it will be financed. If they do not have a proper plan, then the status quo will remain."
North Ayrshire Council has already rubber stamped a £2.9m investment to carry out seawall repairs to the north prom between Largs RNLI and Aubery.