North Ayrshire Council has created a clear strategic framework for the development and management of open space.

North Ayrshire has a network of connected open spaces that combine to create a green network and infrastructure that provides significant economic, social and environmental benefits.

The Council has both direct and indirect responsibility for a variety of open spaces including woodland, playing fields, playparks and burial grounds. Through the local planning process the Council seeks to maintain, enhance and promote access to open space and recreational opportunities.

The North Ayrshire Council Open Space Strategy 2016 to 2026 will deliver through partnership working, open spaces that are inclusive, accessible and ‘fit for purpose’ enhancing the quality of life for residents in North Ayrshire and visitors to North Ayrshire.

Meeting the requirements of the Scottish Government’s Scottish Planning Policy, it sets out the Council’s approach to managing open space, assessing both current and future needs for open space and identifying specific actions to improve provision. Over the next 10 years it will assist in directing resources, knowledge sharing, budget planning and enable greater co-ordination of open space among key stakeholders. The Strategy will be reviewed and updated every 5 years and is complemented by an Open Space Asset Management Plan (reviewed annually). See action 1.7.

North Ayrshire Council has approximately 2,410 hectares of open space within its ownership consisting of:

• Eglinton Country Park
• neighbourhood and local parks
• cemeteries and burial grounds
• woodlands
• core paths
• allotments
• sports facilities including playing fields
• equipped play area and multi use games areas (MUGAS)
• water courses and open water features
• promenades and coastal paths
• beaches
• residential greenspace

North Ayrshire’s open spaces provide a wide range of benefits for communities, the environment and the local economy. They make an important contribution to the character and biodiversity of the area and to the quality of life and place by providing the setting for a wide range of social interactions and pursuits that support personal and community wellbeing. They also allow individuals to interact with the natural environment and provide habitats for wildlife.

Open spaces can also be important in defining the character and identity of towns and villages. Connecting them in a green network can provide enhanced benefits for people, the environment and biodiversity. They also provide valuable ‘ecosystem services’ such as climate change regulation, filtering of pollution, flood prevention and carbon sequestration. Well planned and managed open space will provide a wide range of social, environmental and economic benefit to communities such as:

• outdoor recreation and health improvement
• contributing to sustainable lifestyles
• a sense of pride in your town/village
• regulating the urban environment
• bringing nature into town

The Open Space Strategy will provide clear direction in the co-ordinated management of North Ayrshire’s open space to ensure it meets the needs of residents and visitors alike.

The Open Space Strategy will contribute to the Council’s following Key Priorities:

• protecting and enhancing the environment for future generations
• supporting our people to stay safe, healthy and active
• working together to develop stronger communities
• growing our economy, increasing employment and regenerating towns

Open Space maintenance is carried out by the Council’s modern integrated Streetscene service.

Streetscene is an experienced, well-equipped team with approximately 125 FTE’s managing an overall annual revenue budget of £7.6m, with £2m allocated for grounds maintenance. Streetscene is responsible for the planning and co-ordination of all maintenance and adopts a locality approach to this with teams allocated by area but sharing good practice across the whole Council boundary.

In order to ensure the existing Open Space is proportionate, fit for purpose and meets the public’s needs, Streetscene will undertake audits of existing areas - see actions 1.1 and 1.2. The gateways to North Ayrshire are critically important to ensure residents, visitors and potential investors have a good first impression of the area which will aid economic regeneration, see action points 1.4 and 1.5.

The quality of grounds maintenance on open space is monitored through the Local Authority Management System (LAMS), see action 2.2 and 9.1. The audits will be carried out three times per year and will be analysed and benchmarked to ensure a quality service is provided.

Customer satisfaction levels will also be benchmarked to help maintain service standards, see action 5.1.

Streetscene shares and learns best practice initiatives through its membership of the Association of Public Sector Excellence. (APSE), see action 7.1. APSE has a number of working groups and advisory groups that Streetscene participate in.

The Council’s modern integrated approach to the provision of Streetscene services has proved to be effective and has received a number of awards in recognition of its successes over recent years. The service will continue to be developed to facilitate ongoing service excellence within available financial resources.

The Open Space Strategy has been developed using six Key Strategic Objectives and four key themes.

The 6 key strategic objectives are:

• open space will be promoted as a resource for tourism and recreation, economic development and biodiversity
• help reduce local inequalities by ensuring that all communities have access to high quality, well equipped clean and safe open space
• promote better health by providing diverse opportunities in open spaces, the natural environment and countryside for physical exercise, sport and recreation
• protect and enhance all areas of nature conservation value, in particular historic features, sensitive habitats and special landscape
• improve the perception, quality and range of recreational and tourism facilities in the area’s open spaces
• respond to climate change through the delivery of a connected and integrated network, incorporating water management, woodland area and biodiversity benefits.

The four main themes are:

• parks, open space and equipped play parks
• woodlands
• cemeteries
• sports pitches

All of the themes are interdependent to ensure the Strategy is delivered in full and to maximum effect.

From these themes an action plan has been developed to supplement the Strategic Objectives.

The success of the Strategy and its associated action plan will be heavily reliant on the continued contributions of Streetscene and its Key Partners to ensure successful implementation.

The largest element of North Ayrshire Open Space falls within this category. The objective of the strategy is to increase the quality of parks, open space and equipped play parks to play an active contribution in meeting the Council’s Key Priorities.

North Ayrshire has a number of high quality, popular parks such as:

• Eglinton Country Park, Kilwinning
• McGavin Park, Kilwinning
• Irvine Beach Park
• Douglas Park, Largs
• Barrmill Park, Beith
• Elm Park, Ardrossan
• Stevenston Beach
• The Glen, West Kilbride.

A number of these parks have organisations and groups within them offering community activities and also assisting with maintenance and keeping the parks clean and tidy – see action 2.3.

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 and the locality partnership approach will help drive more community involvement in the running of parks which in turn will shape the priorities of the local community, see actions 2.3 and 5.2.

Quality is a key component of open space. Open spaces need to be ‘fit for purpose’ and serve local communities by providing a level of service and functional provision to meet informal leisure and recreational needs. Quality is important in terms of offering the following:

• linked networks of open space, providing routes to work, schools and other community facilities
• well designed, attractive and managed spaces of all types and size
• providing a range of habitats for biodiversity, which can act as wildlife corridors
• places that provide opportunities to participate in formal sports, informal recreation (including walking, cycling, growing food) promoting health and wellbeing
• places which are inclusive and serve local needs
• inclusive play and open space

The Council has a Local Biodiversity Action Plan in place for the period 2015-2018. To help the Council achieve its Biodiversity outcomes, a review of the location and frequency of grass cutting should be undertaken, see actions 1.6, and 6.1. Consideration should also be given to increase the use of natural ‘wildflowers,’ see actions 4.1 and 6.2.

Funding opportunities should be robustly explored to help with the provision of high-quality open space, see actions 3.1, 4.2 and 4.3. Similarly, opportunities for additional resources as part of Community Payback schemes should also be utilised, see action 7.6.

High quality open space will encourage tourists and potential investors to visit the area. Such opportunities should be marketed in conjunction with Economy & Communities, see action 1.3.

North Ayrshire prides itself on its beaches as a key attraction for tourists to the area and provides fantastic play, sport and leisure opportunities for residents. There are main beaches at:

• Ardrossan
• Blackwaterfoot, Isle of Arran
• Brodick Bay, Isle of Arran
• Fairlie
• Irvine Gailes
• Kames Bay, Cumbrae
• Largs Main beach
• Largs Pencil
• Newton Beach Millport, Cumbrae
• Saltcoats
• Seamill
• Stevenston
• Whiting Bay, Isle of Arran

Newton Beach Millport was successful in the 2015 Keep Scotland Beautiful Scottish Seaside Awards for excellence in beaches and was awarded a Blue Flag, see action 7.5.

The water quality at the beach at the Pencil Monument, Largs has also been recognised by the Marine Conservation Society. Having such high quality, clean, beaches wouldn’t be possible without the help of North Ayrshire’s dedicated community volunteers who help with beach cleans and litter picks, see action 7.4.

The Council has an Allotments Policy and it aims to empower local people to take forward developments themselves rather than the Council directly providing allotment sites.

Advice is offered on:

• setting up a constituted allotment association
• sources of funding
• locations of suitable plots
• how to develop and manage land.

The Council has helped develop the “3 Towns Growers” and is currently working with the Douglas Park allotment group. See action 7.7.

The vision for equipped play parks is:

Children’s play is recognised as being essential to healthy, happy lives and is fundamental to learning and development. More play, more fun, more often.

There are currently 104 play parks provided, inspected and maintained by the Council. There has been significant investment in play park equipment in recent years which has resulted in high quality play park provision. However, there are a minority of play parks which are rarely used, have a small number of pieces of equipment and suffer from location, in some cases by being closely located to larger, more popular, high quality play parks.

It is therefore planned to reduce the number of play parks to ensure all provided play parks are high quality and in appropriate locations. This will ensure investment is targeted at enhancing the remaining play parks. This will ensure high quality play park provision is in place to meet the needs of our children and young people.

The proposals to enhance and reduce are based on:

• location
• usage
• current state of equipment
• equipment prone to miss-use/anti-social behaviour
• equipment approaching end of life
• low value play facilities
• potential for enhancement

The approach to play park rationalisation throughout North Ayrshire is based upon having larger, high quality play parks in highly accessible prominent locations, supported by smaller high quality local play parks across the wider North Ayrshire. This will ensure play park facilities are there for all to use and will also provide excellent facilities for tourists and visitors to North Ayrshire, see actions 2.1, 7.2 & 7.3.

The Equality Act 2010 The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 Planning Policy United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (Article 31).

Woodlands are an essential part of the area’s character. Forests and woodlands make a unique contribution to the environment and economy of North Ayrshire currently occupying around 16% of the land area. They provide a key resource for biodiversity and deliver a wide range of environmental benefits that help to support the local communities, see actions 6.3 and 8.2.

Woodlands also help create memorable and interesting landscapes, providing high levels of visual amenity and habitat value.

Having high quality tree and woodland stock provides value beyond visual amenity such as:

• providing education and community benefits by connecting people with nature
• reduce the impact of built development
• provide environmental benefits such as carbon sequestration, improved air quality
• screening from wind, filtering noise and attracting wildlife
• reduce surface water run-off and the effects of soil erosion
• contribute to physical and mental wellbeing
• provide a sustainable resource
• offers commercial opportunities, see action 8.3

North Ayrshire Council Tree and Woodland Policy document, see action 8.1 Town and Country (Scotland) Planning Act 1997.

• Tree Preservation Orders
• Trees in Conservation Areas (Scotland) Regulations 2010
• Roads (Scotland) Act 1984
• Occupiers Liability (Scotland) Act 1960
• Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004
• High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013

A number of Actions will be developed and implemented to ensure the continued provision of high-quality woodland across North Ayrshire Council’s open space assets. See actions 6.3 and 8.2

North Ayrshire Council has a statutory obligation under the Burial Grounds (Scotland) Act 1855 to provide ground for the burial of the dead. This duty is being replaced by the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 which is in force but yet to be fully introduced. See action 9.4

There are 44 burial grounds in North Ayrshire. Of these, 26 can no longer be used for new lairs and 18 remain operational and open for new lairs.

Whilst the 26 burial grounds can no longer provide new lairs they can still be used if families have bought lairs/plots that have capacity within them. The 26 also still continue to be operated and maintained to a high standard.

The service manages approximately 750 burials per year of which, on average, half require new lairs.

The 18 cemeteries in regular use are:

North Ayrshire Council recognises that the capacity of the existing cemeteries is finite and has plans in place to address this. A large number of cemeteries operated by the Council will reach capacity over the next 10 years, see action 9.2

The Council has made significant investments in cemeteries to extend them, repair walls & paths and upgrade kerbing, see action 9.3

The Cabinet agreed in March 2013 on the development of a cemetery provision programme on a locality basis to allow a more cost effective approach to the duty to provide sufficient burial space within the area. It was agreed that at least one cemetery would be available for new lairs within each locality.

In determining new sites for cemeteries, it is necessary to undertake intrusive ground investigation works to ensure that the site has adequate natural drainage, is not subject to mine workings, is free from contamination, has an adequate depth of soil to enable multiple interments and has a topographical consistency. Any site must be located in an area of tranquillity, have good public transport and road links and be adequately served by utilities for the associated buildings. In addition to the capital requirements associated with the development of new cemeteries, revenue budgets are required for their operation and maintenance.

• Burial Grounds (Scotland) Act 1855
• Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Act 1925 amended in 1933
• Cremation Act 1952
• Cremation (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2003
• Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016

A number of Actions will be developed and implemented to ensure the continued provision of high quality cemeteries across North Ayrshire. See actions 9.1, 9.2, 9.3 and 9.4.

Physical activity and sport brings people and communities together and greatly contributes to removing social and cultural barriers. Physical activity in its broadest sense is a critical public health issue as a lack of physical activity is associated with significant risks to many aspects of health.

North Ayrshire has a variety of outdoor sports facilities including:

• football pitches
• rugby pitches
• cricket pitches
• synthetic grass pitches
• Multi Use Games Areas (MUGA)
• bowling greens
• tennis courts
• athletics tracks
• golf courses

The attractive and unique environment of North Ayrshire makes it well placed to promote active lifestyles. Over the past decade, North Ayrshire Council has significantly improved its open space - sport and leisure facilities. Some of the achievements are:

New Facilities:

• Arran Outdoor Centre
• six new play areas
• full size synthetic pitch at Almswall Park
• sports hubs at KA Campus Arran, KA Campus Dalry, KA Campus Greenwood and KA Campus St Matthews

There is also a full-time active schools co-ordinator in each school cluster and an active schools awards scheme implanted in all schools.

Partnership working and Community led initiatives have resulted in the development and enhancement of the Kilwinning Community Sports Club and the provision of new synthetic tennis courts in West Kilbride.

North Ayrshire Council, KA Leisure and partners are working on a revision to the Physical Activity and Sports Strategy, see action 10.1

The Open Space Strategy will play a key role in supporting the Physical Activity and Sports Strategy. This will in part be facilitated by the continued provision of high quality and accessible open space suitable for recreation and physical activity. See action 10.2