page_title: Irvine, North Ayrshire
section_title: Governance
hierarchical_section_title: Irvine, North Ayrshire / Governance
caption_attribution_description: English: Cunninghame House, Irvine is the headquarters of North Ayrshire Council
context_page_description: Irvine is an ancient settlement, in medieval times a royal burgh, and now a new town on the coast of the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland. The 2011 Census recorded the town's population at 33,698 inhabitants, making it the largest settlement in North Ayrshire. It is home to two football teams Irvine Victoria and Irvine Meadow.
  Irvine was the site of Scotland's 12th century military capital and former headquarters of the Lord High Constable of Scotland, Hugh de Morville. It also served as the capital of Cunninghame and was, at the time of David I, Robert II and Robert III, one of the earliest capitals of Scotland.
  The town was once a haunt of Robert Burns, after whom two streets in the town are named: Burns Street and Burns Crescent. He is known to have worked in a flax mill on the Glasgow Vennel. Despite being classed as a new town, Irvine has had a long history stretching back many centuries and was classed as a Royal Burgh. There are also conflicting rumours that Mary, Queen of Scots stayed briefly at Seagate Castle. There is still a yearly festival, called Marymass, held in the town.
context_section_description: Irvine was granted its first Burgh Charter around 1249. This entitled the town to organise its own affairs under a Town Council. In circa 1372 a dispute arose between Irvine and Ayr as to which of the two burghs had rights to control trade in the Barony of Cunninghame and Barony of Largs. The Burgesses of Irvine were able to produce Royal Charters showing that the town had the right to control trade in the Baronies of Cunninghame and Largs. The dispute was resolved by Robert II's Royal Charter of 8 April 1372 conferring Royal Burgh status.
  Originally Fullarton remained outwith the Royal Burgh of Irvine as a distinct village and latterly burgh in its own right in the Parish of Dundonald until the Irvine Burgh Act 1881 extended the town's boundaries.
  Irvine continued to administer itself with the usual Royal Burgh administrative arrangements of Provost, Bailies and Burgesses. Responsibility for public health, schools and strategic services such as roads passed to Ayr County Council in 1930 when the town was re-classified as a Small Burgh. On 16 May 1975 the Royal Burgh of Irvine Town Council was abolished and its functions were transferred to the now defunct Cunninghame District Council. One of the last acts of the old town council was to present the bulk of the Royal Burgh records and the Provost's regalia to the Irvine Burns Club Museum on Eglinton Street.
  There is a Community council in Irvine. However, unlike counterparts elsewhere in Scotland, it opts not to use 'Royal Burgh of' in its title. The motto used on the coat of arms of the Royal Burgh is 'Tandem Bona Causa Triumphat.' This means "The Good Cause Triumphs in the end". The Westminster Constituency of Central Ayrshire is currently held by the Scottish National Party. The Member of Parliament is Philippa Whitford. The Scottish Parliament Constituency of Cunninghame South is also held by the Scottish National Party. The Member of the Scottish Parliament is Margaret Burgess.
  At the 2014 Scottish independence referendum Irvine went against the national trend where 28 out of 32 council areas voted against the proposal for Scotland to become an independent state on a margin of 55.3% No to 44.7% Yes. In the Irvine West electoral ward 6,543 votes were cast in favour of independence compared with 6,397 votes cast against the proposal, with a vote share of 50.56% "Yes" to 49.44% "No". In Irvine East there were 7,111 "Yes" votes and 6,811 "No" votes, on a vote share of 51.08% Yes to 48.92% No. For Irvine as a whole there were 13,654 "Yes" votes and 13,208 "No" votes, breaking down to 50.83% Yes to 49.17% No.
caption: Cunningham House, the seat of North Ayrshire Council, located in the centre of Irvine
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