THE hold up in creating new car parks in Largs is because nobody wants them near their own home, a town councillor claimed this week.

Alan Hill says car parks is they are generally unpopular if suggested close to housing developments or densely populated streets - and says the matter isn't an easy fix.

A Save Largs Seafront protest in 1991 against parking on the greenbelt in front of Nardini's was led by local man Harry McEachan as people camped out to halt council diggers while both Barrfields Putting Green and land at the Brisbane Centre have had developments there blocked in the past.

Councillor Hill said: "As soon as you say put car parking at Barrfields Putting Green, then everyone in Millennium Court is in uproar, and likewise if you suggest near the Brisbane Centre in Largs, people in Sandringham are unhappy. "Everyone wants a big car park in Largs, but nobody wants it near them. That has been the perennial problem for the past 20 or 30 years."

The issue has made headlines again in recent months after local businesses launched a petition for Barrfields Putting Green to be converted into a car park - sparking a rival one from residents of Millennium Court opposing the proposal.

Cllr Ian Murdoch is now calling for a traders' car park in Scott Street.

He said: "A swing park area would still be maintained at Scott Street, but I have been calling for a general traders car park there. It is only fair that staff travel further to park than customers."

Councillor Alex Gallagher, of the controlling Labour group at North Ayrshire Council, believes the BID would have been a good vehicle to push for parking.

The Business Improvement District involved all businesses paying a levy towards the group, but plans for a second BID were dropped last summer.

Cllr. Gallagher said: "There are technical details and land ownership issues when it comes to car parks..

"The critics may say that when the BID was up and running it didn't solve the parking problem - but that is because it is a difficult one.

"The BID or another business group in the town would be the way ahead so we are able to co-operate rather than relying on conflict and petitions."

"The businesses are troubled by it, we are troubled by it and everyone is trying to find a solution."