East Ayrshire Council will launch a ‘deep clean’ programme across the authority’s towns and villages in a bid to boost civic pride.
The council will also set up a team to tackle antisocial behaviour across the area.
Both the SNP administration and Labour opposition covered similar grounds with their proposals to improve towns.
SNP council Leader Douglas Reid said: “We often see first hand issues of poverty, neglect, anti-social behaviour, and the impact on wellbeing and mental health.
“Local government is best placed to deliver much needed services, working collaboratively to restore civic pride, wellbeing, supporting our local economy with much needed jobs and infrastructure.
“Our top priority is to establish a five member anti-social behaviour team.
“There is evidence across our communities that, post covid, this is an increasing issue and requires immediate attention.”
He continued, proposing a "civic pride initiative to support graffiti removal, deep cleans and chewing gum removal from our town centres right across all of our communities in East Ayrshire."
Labour group leader councillor Maureen McKay brought very similar proposals to the table.
She said: “To encourage and evidence our civic pride we need to develop a programme to enhance the appearances of our town and village centres through ongoing clean ups.
“We quite simply need to invest in more people doing the basics, make our environment fresher, clean, covering all aspects, covering litter, tackling graffiti, chewing gum, cleanliness and presentation of our street furniture.”
East Ayrshire Council agreed to set up an anti social behaviour team for a two- year period at a cost of £162k. The project will be assessed at the end of that period.
It was also agreed to undertake a civic pride initiative, at a cost of £254k.
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