Stevenston

With the growth once more of the energetics industry on Ardeer there is the potential to develop Stevenston in North Ayrshire as an attractive front door for the industry and an aspirational residential environment for its workers. This will involve transforming the environment of the town, turning it back towards the sea and using the opportunities for residential development to create attractive neighbourhoods.

The vision for the regeneration of Stevenston in this attractive part of Scotland, is therefore of a coastal town set within a forest with a distinctive residential feel. The Stevenston regeneration plan includes proposals for developing the town centre, more residential development and a business centre which is now nearing completion.

Robert McGuire, resident, Stevenston:

There's a great deal that needs to be done to improve the town, from creative sign-posting through to improving the town centre, improving the sports centre and creating children's playgrounds. Stevenston has excellent natural assets and leisure facilities and I want to see them protected and developed.

With a population of just over 9,000, Stevenston in Scotland is best known as the major base for Nobel Industries and, latterly, ICI. The demise of this industrial base and the loss of the associated employment has had a significant impact on the town. A small retail core still exists within the original town centre and the main industrial sites are still found on the Ardeer peninsula. The town has extensive open spaces and leisure areas, including a beach park to the west. Stevenston has a railway station and the town is bound to the north by Saltcoats.

Stevenston is a close-knit community with a history as rich as the other towns. It has, however, tended to be over-shadowed by its neighbours and certainly as a shopping centre is a shadow of what it once was. While Stevenston is a historic town, its environment has been shaped by its industrial past. In the 19th century it included a colliery, pig iron works and the explosive works on the Ardeer Peninsular. At the height of the ICI works three special trains were laid on for the workers, so many people were employed locally.  Much of the industry has gone and the seafront has been reclaimed and grassed and much of the housing has been improved.