North Ayrshire: More than 200 displaced Ukrainians settled

And councillors praised officials for their endeavour as it was revealed that some 232 Ukrainians had settled in North Ayrshire since the conflict with Russia began back in March.

The cabinet meeting last week agreed to:

• Note the support provided to date to Ukrainian Displaced People (UDPs) who have settled in North Ayrshire.

• Note the plans to reinstate 30 decommissioned one-bedroom council properties at Glebe Place, Saltcoats as temporary accommodation for Ukrainian Displaced People, using funding of £486,000 allocated by Scottish Government for this purpose.

• That officers continue to investigate further options to accommodate people displaced by the Ukraine conflict.

North Ayrshire Refugee Task Force, which has representation from across the Community Planning Partnership, has met regularly since March to respond to the Ukraine crisis.

Some 232 Ukrainians have already been supported to settle in medium-longer term accommodation. There are 62 in longer-term furnished tenancies, 65 Ukrainians are hosted locally by 29 sponsors and nine Ukrainians have been successfully matched with six hosts.

A further three families are known to live in North Ayrshire under the Family Sponsor Scheme.

Based on current and planned accommodation, it is likely that the number of Ukrainian displaced people living in medium-longer-term accommodation in North Ayrshire will be approximately 270 by the end of December.

READ MORE: Saltcoats flats earmarked for demolition to be upgraded for Ukrainian refugees

Due to the significant number of people arriving through the initial ports of entry and the pressure placed on the welcome hubs there, in late June the Scottish Government booked 15 hotel rooms at the Riverside Lodge, Irvine, with the first 13 Ukrainians arriving there in July.

Following discussions between council officers, Scottish Government and the Riverside Lodge’s management team and in recognition of the experience gained by council and hotel staff over the last three months and the national demand for accommodation, the Scottish Government recently extended the number and duration of its hotel booking, with 23 rooms now booked until March 2023.

The council has already successfully rehoused 60 people from Riverside Lodge to longer-term accommodation in North Ayrshire properties and other local authority areas.

The five blocks of six one-bedroom, low demand flats at Glebe Place, Saltcoats were identified as a council housing regeneration project in the Estate Based Regeneration Plan in January 2019.

The 30 flats were scheduled for demolition following the successful rehousing of tenants to alternative accommodation, with the vacated site to be redeveloped through the Strategic Housing Investment Plan in 2024-25.

Following an assessment of the properties and discussions with the Scottish Government, these 30 units were proposed to the Scottish Government as an opportunity to accommodate Ukrainian individuals and couples for up to three years, subject to the full cost of reinstating the properties to the appropriate housing standard being funded by the Scottish Government.

Council leader Marie Burns

Council leader Marie Burns said: “I have spoken to a few in recent weeks and they wanted to pass on to the council and said how grateful they are for the support we have given them.”

Depute leader Shaun Macaulay added: “When this crisis happened it definitely wasn’t planned, so the response from the council to deal with it should be commended.

“To get to a state a few months ago when we did not expect 200-odd people to arrive in North Ayrshire to a place where we were actually going to refurbish buildings which were going to be demolished is really good. So, well done to the team in getting us to this place.

“We have been thinking outside the box. Every vacant building is being analysed in North Ayrshire."