A CALL has been made to hold an urgent public meeting to try and resolving the long-running car parking problem in Largs.

John Corrigan, who has set up a petition to turn Barrfields putting green into a car park, believes politicians should ask the people how to solve the issue.

Mr Corrigan is pressing local councillors, MSP Kenneth Gibson and MP Patricia Gibson to arrange an event where people can publicly air their views.

The Deli Il Cardo owner says: "We need all MPs and councillors to get involved and have a public meeting with all the businesses.

"This is not something we are going to let just slide away - we need to find a solution."

In responding to Mr Corrigan's plea, the local MP said: "I am aware that parking issues in Largs have been a long-running sore.

"The council will no doubt wish to engage in a consultation with local residents and businesses to find a way forward.

"There have been proposals put forward in the past but none has found favour with local residents, so this is not an easy matter to resolve.

"No doubt local councillors will wish to propose that full consultation on this matter is undertaken."

Mr Gibson has offered to pursue more parking in Largs - and believes that reducing parking outside shops to one hour could have economic spin-offs.

He said: "Parking is a perennial problem. North Ayrshire Council will no longer fund traffic wardens and so control falls on the police.

"It is a false economy as traffic fines would surely cover the cost of wardens, as they do on Glasgow and Edinburgh for example.

"There was a public meeting about this specific issue some years ago and I recall a suggestion that parking outside shops be limited to one hour. "Other towns implementing such a policy have seen turnover jump by around 25 per cent as there is a higher footfall of customers.

"Unfortunately, there was little support from the business community, for although they are keen for others to be held to one or two hours, many shop owners themselves like to park all day nearby.

"The answer is for the council to provide more parking – although any new locations will be contentious – and restore wardens.

"I’ll pursue these matters."

During a recent North Ayrshire Council meeting, independent councillor Ian Murdoch received a commitment from council bosses to look at the issue before the onset of the summer season.

Mr Corrigan added: "We need to be able to be in a position where we can provide parking in the town for during the busy summer periods and other times, such as the festive period.

"Largs has plenty of green space and putting a car park at Barrfields would not infringe on any of the areas that people like to walk.

"This is something that many businesses in the town are keen to have - as the petition has shown. It is critical that Largs has additional parking to soak up the additional people who come in the summer.

Mr Corrigan also criticised the idea of using Scott Park saying it wouldn't be as visible for visitors to the town as the street was already a bottleneck during peak traffic times.