Primer periodo (1825-1952)

Introduction

5.1 In addition to the projects proposed within the Key Development Areas the consultant

team has considered a range of complementary initiatives centred on movement, employability and education, which are felt to be worthy of inclusion within the TRP, but which will require a greater level of development and evaluation.

Movement

5.2 A common observation in Irvine is the sense of detachment between the eastern and

western banks of the River Irvine, after the demolition of the conventional bridge that spanned the river was replaced with the Rivergate Centre. Despite the centre having 24 hour access, the privatisation of space within an enclosed structure and the lack of visual connections across the river is felt to inhibit psychological associations between the Harbourside and Old Town. This is especially true for those who are reliant on public transport as there are very few bus routes between the Old Town, Harbourside and more importantly the train station, whilst any routes that do exist are given added time and inconvenience by an indirect road network.

5.3 The Irvine Bay Masterplan illustrated a pedestrian / cycle bridge roughly between The

Forum and Cunninghame House, but during the development of the TRP the idea that such a bridge could also carry buses has gathered momentum. Such a link would create a convenient bus service to the Harbourside from the Old Town, improving the

accessibility of the new Harbourside development and the ‘Big Idea.’ It would also create the possibility for a public transport interchange at Irvine station, improving linkages to the rail network for the wider population of Irvine who are already served by the bus, but who might not have ease of access to the station. This will have a positive impact on accessibility to job opportunities within the wider City Region, which is within easy reach by train from Irvine (Glasgow- 25 minutes, Prestwick Airport- 10 minutes). Indeed, the bus link between the Old and New Towns should be viewed in terms of its wider signifi cance as there is potential to link the Town Centre, station, Harbourside, links golf

course, Tarryholme and Annickbank within a loop of ‘opportunity.’

5.4 In order to facilitate a bus route from the Old Town to the bridge it is suggested that unit 111 of Bridgegate House could be demolished to facilitate the widening of Chapel Lane and the creation of a direct route to the ‘Cross.’ This obviously needs appraising in terms of highways and engineering constraints, but ideally this should progress before plans for the refurbishment of Bridgegate House are worked up into greater detail.

Potential alignment of bridge and bus way

Employability – Linking Jobs to local people

5.5 Creating economic opportunity for the people of Irvine Bay is a key challenge for the URC

and for the regeneration plan for Irvine. The evidence base is clear and compelling and formed a key part of the strategic rationale for establishing Irvine Bay URC:

• The total number of jobs in North Ayrshire has fallen by around 2,000 between

1995 and 2005 – this is in marked contrast to jobs growth in the rest of Scotland

• A key contributor to this poor performance is the underlying weakness of the

structure of the local economy: North Ayrshire is over represented in ‘declining’ sectors (such as manufacturing) and under represented in key growth sectors

(including fi nancial and business services)

• North Ayrshire – and Irvine Bay in particular suffers from high levels of benefi t

dependency and worklessness – there were 18,000 people claiming benefi ts in 2007 and half of this group was claiming incapacity benefi t.

5.6 Improving access to employment opportunities in the wider city region and giving people

the confi dence and the right skills to access work are a key part of the Irvine Bay URC’s

plans to address high levels of worklessness. The regeneration plan will play an important role in creating a physical framework to attract new investment and employment into the town. An important aspect however will be to link local people to the job opportunities that will fl ow from these new investments.

5.7 The aim of the project is to ensure that local people seeking to return to the labour

market have the best chance of securing jobs as new employment comes into the town. The project would consist of 5 key components:

Components Identifying employment opportunities Raising awareness of opportunities Overcoming employability barriers Job specifi c training Transition to work and progression Description Forecasting nature and timing of jobs Publicising jobs Raising employment aspirations and employ- ability Providing training to meet em- ployer’s skills needs Keeping peo- ple in work and assist- ing them to progress

Key partners Employers Jobs Centre

Plus Community groups Employability providers Jobs Centre Plus Employability providers Training pro- viders Employers Training pro- viders Employers

5.8 Consultations with stakeholders suggest that there is already an existing delivery

mechanism in place that could be used to co-ordinate this project – namely the employability group of the North Ayrshire Community Planning Partnership. This group brings together JobCentrePlus, North Ayrshire Council, Skills Development Scotland and local delivery agents including CEiS.

5.9 The URC could work with this group to:

• identify the range and nature of employment that is likely to fl ow from new

investment in the town

• liaise with potential employers to identify the timing of jobs and particular

occupational and skills requirements of those jobs

• co-ordinate local employability and training provision to meet those needs.

5.10 There are a number of effective examples of this type of approach currently operating across the west of Scotland. Glasgow South West Regeneration Agency have delivered the successful Silverburn Jobs project, which has helped more than 700 people from the Pollok area secure a range of employment roles in a major new shopping development of the southside of Glasgow.

Education

5.11 Although there has been very limited recent research on the education needs of Irvine Bay in the context of the TRP, the evidence suggests that the area’s socio-economic context is defi ned by low education attainment and skills:

• Only 17% of North Ayrshire School pupils in S5 left school in 2006 with 3 or more

Highers, against a Scottish average of 22%.

• Progression to higher education is below the Scottish average – with 27% of

students progressing to University compared to 30% across Scotland and most of these students will attend Universities outside North Ayrshire.

• Participation in higher education and further education is mixed compared to the

Scottish average: in 2006/07 59 people per 1000 from North Ayrshire were in Further Education compared to 62 per 1000 in Scotland as a whole, however, in 2006/07 13 people per 1000 from North Ayrshire were in Higher Education compared to 9 per 1000 from Scotland as a whole.

• A relatively low proportion of graduates fi nd work in the area following their

studies: 23% of graduates originally from North Ayrshire found their fi rst job in the area after graduating in 2004/05 – the majority found their fi rst job elsewhere in Scotland.

• The population of North Ayrshire is generally less well qualifi ed than across

Scotland: only 28.4% of the population hold an NVQ4 level qualifi cation or above – compared to 32.1% in Scotland. 15.4% of the population hold no qualifi cations, compared to 13.7% across Scotland.

5.12 Indeed, the Tribal Report expands upon this issue by stressing the following:

• “Raising skills and aspirations will be key to local growth and also to increased

prosperity for those who take the path of out- commuting and out- migration. The area has low educational attainment and the second highest proportion of young people not in education and employment in Scotland.”

• “Actions to raise the aspirations and attainment of young people must be a key

part of the broader economic strategy of the area.”

• “The draft Structure Plan identifi es a need for a university campus in Ayrshire,

and although our understanding is that Ayr is seen as the most probable location. Irvine Bay may wish to position itself as a possible location.”

• “The trick which Irvine Bay has to achieve is that of building up and improving leisure, retail and educational facilities in step with housing growth, so that people are drawn to Irvine as a place with a quality range of facilities and life opportunities, which they will use, not just a cheap place to buy a detached house in which to eat, spend the evening and sleep.”

5.13 Although the Tribal Report states that initiatives to raise the ability of local people to compete in the economy of the city region would be largely the remit of the URC’s partners, the URC has the potential to support such initiatives through property investment. Other than the Kilwinning campus of James Watt College, which has some HE link courses, there is no higher education or research institution presence in the area and a number of sites considered as part of the TRP (specifi cally the Big Idea and Ayrshire Metals) have been identifi ed as possible locations for a tertiary level education campus.

5.14 In terms of defi ning a specifi c USP for a new education campus in Irvine, the hospitality industry has particular resonance given the shear number of masterplan projects aimed at the leisure, recreation and tourism sector in Irvine Bay. Indeed, the Tribal Report notes the growing market for health and beauty treatments (worth about £1.5 billion annually), a niche which has been capitalised in Buxton through the University of Derby’s new Devonshire Royal Campus (international school of tourism and hospitality

management). This may be something that could tie in with the University of the West of Scotland, who are developing their Ayr campus; a site in Irvine may be a strategically good move in terms of spreading their campus bases along the west coast.

5.15 Even though the minimum number of students required for such a facility is not known, it might be that the Big Idea is not large enough for a viable number of students (an approximate capacity for the building has been made at 1,000 students). Should this prove too small, the opportunity could be for the building to showcase student services, by containing a fi nishing kitchen/restaurant, whilst the actual teaching takes place off site.

5.16 In the event that an FE campus is too large in scale for Irvine or the Big Idea site, the basic principles of an iconic learning facility based on Irvine’s tourist industry could be employed in another way. Concepts such as Jamie Oliver’s ‘Fifteen Foundation,’ a global social enterprise brand that exists to inspire disadvantaged young people (homeless,

unemployed, overcoming drug or alcohol problems) - to get a career in the restaurant industry would be a fi tting commercial use that has wider social benefi ts for the town. CASE STUDY- Devonshire Royal Campus (Buxton Campus of the University of Derby) The inspiring building acts as a beacon to education and training opportunities, especially in hospitality and catering. The campus offers NVQs, BTECs and degrees and contains teaching space for 2,500 students. Some estimates suggest the new campus could eventually pull up to £25 million a year in new investment into the town.

The Institute of Hospitality and Tourism Studies has seven kitchens in total: in addition to the training areas there is an International & Development Kitchen; a Pastry & Bakery Kitchen; a specialist Larder Preparation Kitchen and a Cookery Demonstration Theatre. There is also a main Production Kitchen which services the fi ne dining restaurant and is half situated in the restaurant, providing a visual cookery theatre where guests can observe their food being prepared.

In addition to catering and hospitality expertise, students, the public and visitors to Buxton also benefi t from new hair and beauty salons complemented by an excellent spa facility. The BSc (Hons) in International Spa Management is the only one of its kind and is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge to pursue a career in Beauty, Health and Spa Management.

Examples of courses: Undergraduate

Culinary Arts, Events Management, Hairdressing and Salon Management, Hospitality, Hospitality Management, International Spa Management, Managing in the Service Sector, Outdoor Activities Management, Spa (Management/Therapies), Spa Therapies, Sports Coaching, Sports Massage and Exercise Therapy (Travel and Tourism Management. Post Graduate

Events Management (MA incorporating PG Cert/PG Dip) , Hospitality Management (International) (MA incorporating PG Cert/PG Dip), Sports Management (Strategic) (MA), Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector (Professional Graduate Diploma), Well-being: Spa, Body and Movement Therapies MSc.