CALLS have been made for the public to step in and help protect an historic park in Largs after it was targeted by vandals.

Douglas Park has fallen into a state of disrepair after the £30,000 of Common Good cash being used to maintain it each year was cut.

Now Largs Community Council have said community groups and townsfolk need to step up to save the 100-year-old attraction.

Their call came after chairs within the park were damaged and rubbish dumped in one of its ponds.

Largs council chairman Anne Carson highlighted the issue during a recent meeting, with police sergeant Sharon Kerr adding that police had been alerted.

One dog walker, who regularly uses the park, told the News: "The grass area on the hill above the tennis courts have just been left to become badly overgrown. It is only a five or ten minute job to get that cut.

"It used to be a lovely park but you see the damaged benches, the pond is out of use which used to be a lovely water feature and it all now looks very sad.

"Something needs to be done before it becomes a real eyesore."

Independent Largs councillor Ian Murdoch says he feels that a public group could be formed to help safeguard Douglas Park in a similar vein to the one that runs the Viking community garden at Largs Railway Station.

Community councillor Jim Perman added that he wants funds from the seafront car park fund used to address the maintenance issues at Douglas Park, however Cllr Alan Hill says this cash is earmarked for projects on the seafront.

The attraction includes a bowling club, nursery, Burns Garden and an ancient neolithic park, and well an an access to the path to Douglas Park viewpoint overlooking Largs.

Community councillor Margaret Wood told the News earlier this year that the park was part of the town's heritage and history and said more needs to be done ahead of its centenary this year.

It was Charles John Cathcart Douglas who handed over the upper land at Haylie in 1906, before donating the lower lands in the 1920 to allow for new bowling and tennis courts.

Mr Douglas gifted them to the town council for the benefit of the residents and the visitors to Largs. This was followed after the war by a gift of the more lower land as an expression of thanksgiving for the preservation of his son in the perils of the Great War.

The ongoing dispute over the loss of the Douglas Park shelter and finding a suitable replacement was also given an airing at the meeting.

Community councillor Jim Perman says that a suitable alternative for the loss of the shelter has not yet been found - despite this being a pre-requisite of knocking down the shelter.