Bourtreehill

Bourtreehill is a large housing estate built by the Irvine Development Corporation (IDC) in the late 1970s which forms part of the Irvine New Town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. The estate has two main parts, known as Bourtreehill North and Bourtreehill South. Along its southern border runs the Broomlands estate. The Bourtreehill South area has suffered from anti-social behaviour. However, with more frequent police and Community Warden Patrols, this has gone down, though the area still suffers from the lack of employment opportunities in North Ayrshire.

A 'Bour Tree' is an alternative name for the Common Elder tree, Sambucus nigra, often found in the older and more biodiverse local woodlands.

Bourtreehill is north of the village of Dreghorn. The Annick Water, a tributary of the River Irvine, runs through Bourtreehill.

Bourtreehill (and Broomlands) housing estates were built in the late 1970s to meet the demands of a burgeoning population. They developed around the older Bourtreehill House estate. Rather than being controlled by local or regional government, they were managed by Irvine Development Corporation, a body set up for the purpose of regenerating Irvine.

Originally, Bourtreehill housing scheme was intended to be substantially larger than it is today, extending beyond the River Annick, further towards Perceton. However, with a considerable number of old mine workings, some of which have not been charted, this was abandoned.

North Bourtreehill has been a troubled community since its inception with several different construction companies being involved, some of which went bankrupt partway through the project. This has resulted in a wide variety of housing styles of varying quality. Since the disbanding of IDC, the houses which had not been sold to private ownership fell under either local council administration (Cunninghame District Council, now North Ayrshire council) or, in some cases, were owned by a housing association.

On 23 April 1976, the case of Sandy Davidson hit the headlines in Scotland as he has been one of the many children to go missing in Scotland. He has not been seen since despite the case being featured on the television programme Lorraine Kelly Investigates: Missing Children.

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