Councillors have agreed to order the owner of an “eyesore” former pub in Stevenston to tidy it up.

Complaints have been made about broken windows and rubbish in the yard at the old Rankin’s Bar building on Townhead Street.

The property has been empty since 2014.

North Ayrshire Council contacted the owner in February, March and April asking for refuse to be removed and windows to be boarded up. There was no reply. 

The owner was named during an online meeting as James Duffy, of Glasgow, who bought the property in 2018. 

A council planning committee agreed an amenity notice should be served on the owner – asking for window openings to be secured and smashed ones boarded up. Refuse is also to be lifted. 

Speaking at the meeting, senior council manager, planning, James Miller said: “The owner has been given adequate opportunity to alleviate the harm and required works have not been undertaken. In this prominent location it is having an adverse impact on the local amenity of the area.”

Independent Councillor Ronnie McNicol described the site as an “eyesore.”

All councillors unanimously supported a motion to serve the notice on the site owner at the planning committee yesterday (May 19.)

The name of the owner was not mentioned in council papers but Labour councillor Donald Reid asked for the identity to be revealed.

Kilwinning Councillor Reid said: “I think I would prefer to know who we are taking the action against.”

Planning committee chair Tom Marshall, Conservative, said: “There are a large number of sites across the authority which suffer the same problems.”

He called for the council’s communications department to release details of actions taken by the committee to deal with problem sites. He hopes naming the owners will act as a “disincentive” to sites being neglected.

He called for more proactive action on blighted sites, which have been there for years.

A council paper submitted to councillors said: “The property is a prominent building at the entrance to Stevenston town centre from the east. It represents one of the last historic buildings on the old line of Townhead Street before it was widened and slightly re-aligned. The building is believed to date from the late 19th Century to early 20th Century.”