A campaign is being launched upgrade the domestic abuse refuge in Ayr.

Women currently have their own bedrooms and share all other facilities, but the new proposals include building eight new flats to give women more personal space.

The plans are being proposed by South Ayrshire Women's Aid and are estimated to cost around £500,000.

Manager of the women's aid centre in South Ayrshire, Hazel Bingham, said: "We want to make the refuge centre, The Willows, fit for the 21st century.

"Right now women have their own bedrooms for them and their families but share all other facilities.

"We don't live like that as a society which can make the living situation difficult.

"Different parents have different rules and vulnerable victims really need a space they can call their own.

"This isn't a one off thing - this would have lasting effects for years and years to come.

"It would really make a massive difference to these lives, so every penny counts."