Largs doesn’t want the controversial new 20mph limit through the town centre, but the village of Fairlie desperately wants it!

That is the view of Cunninghame North MSP Kenneth Gibson who has said that he will again talk to Transport Minister Keith Brown concerning the village plight, one year on from the lorry tragedy which crashed into Curneil Villa and killed Catherine Bonner, 55.

Last December, the Scottish Parliament suddenly announced a number of pilot 20mph schemes to be introduced throughout Scotland including Largs, but Fairlie Council were left highly disappointed that they weren’t included in the plans.

In February, Mr Gibson urged Fairlie Council to write to Mr Brown seeking his intervention, but chairman Steve Graham has said that it was bypassed, and they instead received a response from Transport Scotland highlighting the reasons why Largs was included, yet Fairlie wasn’t.

Mr Graham said that he was annoyed by the response, and said he believed that Mr Brown didn’t read the letter from Fairlie Community Council at all.

Mr Gibson agreed and said that this was likely to be the case, and instead it was passed over by Mr Brown’s staff to the lead agency - Transport Scotland - to deal with.

Speaking with incredulity, Mr Graham pointed out that the mean speed in Largs is given as 15.2mph, while the Fairlie mean speed is 32/33mph according to the statistics given. While statistics had been offered in terms of the number of accidents in Largs, Mr Graham raged: “There are lies, damned lies and statistics. I am almost losing the will...” Secretary Rita Holmes said sarcastically: “... to live?” Community councillor David Telford asked whether last year’s fatal accident would have been included in the statistics or not. Mr Graham raged that the higher accident statistics in Largs was not being fairly compared with the plight of Fairlie which had a much lower population, and said: “They are not comparing apples with apples.” Labour councillor Alex Gallagher said he would certainly back MSP Gibson in approaching the Transport Minister to solve the issue, and called on additional council support. Mr Gibson pointed out that SNP Council leader Willie Gibson had already written to the Transport Minister.

Mr Gibson pointed out that due to the high volumes of correspondence, it was not unusual for a letter to Mr Brown to be passed on to the lead agency, and remarked that there was more chance of a letter getting to Prime Minister David Cameron if it was via his constituency address, than via 10 Downing Street.

Community councillor John Riddell said that after meetings with Transport Scotland, they had said that they would come back with new traffic calming measures, but said “Nothing has changed in a whole year.” Villager Carol McDowell said: “You would think that if this is a three year pilot programme for 20mph limits, there would be more chance of Fairlie being included.” Mr Gibson said during his last meeting with Mr Brown that a letter from Fairlie Community Council was on its way, and he would respond, but now said he was not convinced that the Transport minster had seen the letter, and would again purse the matter.

Mr Graham thanked Mr Gibson and said: “It is highly disappointing. I can only ask that you keep tyring and we feel it is something - for the whole village - that it is very much worth pursuing.”