Developed alongside residents, Our Council Plan 2023-28 describes how the council works in partnership to fulfil its aim of ‘A North Ayrshire that is fair for all’.

It does this by focusing on four priorities:

1. Wellbeing
2. Communities and Local Democracy
3. Climate Change and
4. A Sustainable Council

A paper titled Our Council Plan Progress Report Year End 2025 to 2026 was presented to cabinet on Tuesday 1 September, showing that the council has continued to progress its priorities in line with Best Value legislation in the six months from 1 October, 2025 to 31 March 2026.

The most recent progress report shows that the council has made steady progress over the six-month period, with 84% of performance indicators - where the status is known - either on target or close to being on target. This figure compares with 75% for the year end in 2024-25.

The Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) is used by local authorities across Scotland to compare their performance and learn from each other, with the aim of ensuring transparency and continuous improvements.

This covers a wide range of areas including the proportion of senior pupils entering positive destinations, CO2 emissions area-wide per capita and the percentage of unemployed people who are supported into work through Council programmes.

When it comes to the LGBF data up to April 2026, the council is performing well, with 20 of its 33 priority indicators in the top half of all local authorities – compared with 17 of 33 in June last year.

Tony Gurney, North Ayrshire Council leader, said: “It is encouraging to see that our percentage of performance indicators classed as either ‘on target’ or ‘close to being on target’ has increased since last year’s Year End Progress Reporting on Our Council Plan.

“This report clearly demonstrates that we are making continued progress, and I would like to thank staff in all council departments for their ongoing good work in delivering vital services that make a real difference to residents, visitors and businesses.”