A SHOCK ban on putting up Referendum posters on council property has been taken in a vote at an NAC meeting.

It has led to a war of words among local SNP and Unionist politicians.

At the full meeting of North Ayrshire Council last week a motion by Councillor Willie Gibson, the Leader of the SNP administration, to continue the previous practice of permitting display of campaign posters on council property was defeated on a vote by 13 to 11.

The entire opposition of Conservative, Labour and Independent Councillors voted en bloc to defeat the administration.

Conservative Councillor Tom Marshall, seconded by Labour Councillor Donald Reid, moved the successful amendment that “North Ayrshire Council’s policy is to disallow display of campaign posters on any council property.“ This has the effect that for the forthcoming European elections and the Independence Referendum (and all subsequent elections) it will be illegal to place posters on lampposts or street furniture. Speaking after the vote Cllr Marshall said: “The issues of so many posters on lampposts and street furniture was of concern.

"They serve no useful purpose and merely add to the clutter in the streets and in some cases are a real distraction to road users. Some argue that the presence of such materials increases the turnout at the elections but there is no evidence of this.

However, local SNP councillor Alan Hill, who is Depute Leader of NAC responded: “I do not recognise Cllr Marshall’s descriptions. SNP posters go up before election day and are removed within 48 hours thereafter.

"There is no clutter in the streets and the only time I would say posters caused a distraction was the time Cllr Marshall and his wife chose to stick their photographs on to election posters which were promptly vandalised.

" I’m sure I wasn’t the only local resident playing hunt the Tory poster to see if it had a moustache or glasses drawn onto it.” He added: “The vote this week was nothing other than an example of a Labour/Tory Better Together campaign‎ that actually has so few campaigners that they would struggle to get posters put up, easier still not to have to bother. It is sad, however, that they do not seem to care that this will, undoubtedly, affect the turnout.” Labour Councillor Reid commented: “North Ayrshire Council is bordered by three authorities that have banned election posters, and this has become common practice as councils review their own policies.

" The Scottish Government has had such a ban in place for some time which has led to confusion locally, and, with the proposed change to remove posters 50 metres from polling places, this would add to confusion and disputes on election day, taking the focus by officers away from the polls themselves.

“This is why I supported a move which applies also to elections, not just the referendum. The move does not stop posters being placed in people’s windows or gardens; the ban is only on council lamp postal and street furniture.”;