Angry campaigners hit out at North Ayrshire Council over toilet provision at Irvine Harbour

Angry community campaigners have hit out at North Ayrshire Council for pushing toilet provision at Irvine Harbour “further down the road”.

Irvine Harbourside is due to be developed under The Great Harbour programme, ensuring the area is a great place to live, work, play and visit.

It includes the implementation of the ‘Maritime Mile’ investment allocated through the Ayrshire Growth Deal, which will regenerate the Harbourside and Beach Park.

The plans will maximise the location’s incredible natural and cultural highlights to position it as a popular tourism destination for visitors and the local community to enjoy.

This will see a huge change in the number of visitors attracted to the area and improvements in place-making.

Proposals for the programme were first shared with the local community in 2023, and construction on Phase 1 at the Beach Park area began in 2025 with Phase 2 along the Harbourside set to commence in 2027.

However the community council say toilets have to be a priority with a playpark set to be built in the area.

Irvine Community Council chair Chris Pless said: “It’s disappointing that this provision has been pushed further down the road.

“With the apparent absence of anything other than some new seats and planters in phase 2, this project is starting to sound more like ‘Bare-Minimum Harbour Project’ than ‘Great’.

“Unlike many other Local Authorities North Ayrshire Council appear to be convinced that public toilets should be the responsibility of community groups not the local authority and appear absolutely determined to not provide these much needed public facilities.

“A shocking statistic is that since 2010 North Ayrshire council have closed or transferred 41 public toilets (including all the ones we had in Irvine).

“It’s laughable that there’s currently better provision on the building site at the beach for the workers than there will be for the members of the public whose taxes paid for the project.”

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “Plans are being developed and costed for new toilet facilities.

“These are at an early stage and the work is being undertaken separately from the current Phase one works, currently on site for the play park and the Phase Two Maritime Mile proposals which are the focus of the current stakeholder consultation.”