The team behind a North Ayrshire Council upcycling project has appealed for donations of bicycles that people no longer need.

The Equal programme is a supported employment service that guides people with long-term health conditions and disabilities into work and training.

It comes under the banner of North Ayrshire Council’s Employability Service’s Your Next Move, Working North Ayrshire programme.

And it offers a wide range of tailored support to get people back into work, start work for the first time or take a step up the career ladder.

Equal staff are currently running a bike initiative that sees unwanted bikes being serviced, cleaned up and offered for free to members of the community who cannot afford to buy their own.

The programme is also currently training four of its trainees to attain Velotech Cycle Maintenance Qualifications and SQA accreditation for Customer Service and Responsibilities of Employment.

If you have a bike in relatively decent condition to donate that is lying unused in a shed or taking up valuable space in your garage, the team would like to hear from you.

You can donate an unwanted bike, or if your child has outgrown theirs, you can swap it for a bigger one and someone else will be gifted their original bicycle.

If you donate a bicycle, the trainee bike mechanics will check the gears, brakes and other bike parts for wear and tear – and give it a service.

The project is helping to stop unused bikes going to landfill and is also giving families and individuals a chance to get one for free that they otherwise could not afford.

Councillor Tony Gurney, Cabinet Member for Green Environment and Economy, said: “This fantastic project is supporting people in our communities by providing bikes for leisure and for getting fit, but also for travelling to school, college or work.

“And it is helping the local environment by reducing the number of bikes that are sent to landfill by making them roadworthy again so people can use them.”

To find out how you can donate a bike, or receive one, please email supportedemployment@north-ayrshire.gov.uk.

If you are making a donation, the team can arrange delivery or collection – but please only offer bicycles that are worth restoring.