Hundreds hear of progress in Irvine Bay

Almost three hundred people attended our third Annual Public Meeting, held at the Menzies Hotel in Irvine on 25 March 2010.

The audience - made up largely of business people, community groups and interested individuals - heard Chief Executive Patrick Wiggins outline the significant progress made during the past 12 months, in particular around projects including Kilwinning Main Street, The Ayrshire golf course and complex, and Annickbank Business Park.

Watch our podcast, and hear what people had to say about the meeting.

APM podcast

The meeting also heard two major announcements:

• We have formed a Joint Venture with Clydeport to develop the former Shell site beside Ardrossan Marina, which could lead to expanding the Marina, and creating hundreds of new homes and high-quality commercial and leisure space
• That the office block on the former NACCO site at Irvine is to be used to help “hothouse” new-start businesses through the creation of flexible, inexpensive and supportive working space for up to 20 new ventures, with additional support services likely to include training, events and conferences.

At the meeting people were also given the opportunity to ask one-to-one questions at a number of information sites within the venue, covering topics as diverse as The Ayrshire, business infrastructure, town centre regeneration, and plans for our coast.