Clyde Muirshiel rangers have been praised after they helped move 11 bags of rubbish from the Greeto Falls area in the back hills of Largs.

And a local councillor has called for a wider effort to clamp down on the problem.

Cllr. Ian Murdoch had alerted Clyde Muirshiel to the issue after litter was coming down the burn and building up at the side of the Gogo Burn, and at Mackerston.

He said: "I contacted Judie McCready, who was the senior ranger at Clyde Muirshiel about the problem.

"She managed to get some helpers to remove 11 bin bags of rubbish. She said some of it was too difficult to get to without a wet suit.

"There are broken bottles throughout the area.

"It is people who have been going up the Greetos during the summer and just throwing their rubbish into the burn that has been the problem.

"We often talk about how beautiful the Greeto Falls is in town, but this is effectively the same thing as flytipping, and they shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

The problem has been aired at Largs Community Council meetings in recent months, but the cause of the problem was at that point unknown.

"We need to all be responsible," said Cllr. Murdoch, "A lot of the visitors to the Greeto Falls are from out of town and they are not respecting it.

"Everyone should respect the countryside area.

"It is really great that the Clyde Muirshiel wardens have done a tidy up of the area and that is great."

The independent councillor has also requested more bins in the area to help offset the problems experienced, but said there also needed to be a concerted campaign to make people aware of the damage and harm that they are doing to the local environment.

It is not just at the Greeto Falls that there has been a problem but other hill areas around Largs.

In June, we reported that there had been swathe of countryside rubbish has been left in the back hill areas of Largs by teenage drinking yobs.

This picture was taken by a local cyclist who passed by the scene near Outerwards Reservoir, who told the 'News': "The area is around two miles north of on the Glen Road. Its where the local youths go to party.

""I think it is the scale of the mess that they have left behind that is really shocking, on a beautiful countryside as well. Why don't they pick up and take it away and leave it the way they found it.

"It is such a sad thing to see."