VICTORY has been declared in the war on smokers blighting the natural beauty of Largs seafront.

Primary school pupils complained to the community council about the eyesore caused by litter louts discarding cigarette butts on the prom.

They highlighted the problem after joining the community council on a beach clean where they discovered hundreds of cigarette ends disregarded outside Wetherspoons.

Shocked by the mess left behind by smokers, the community council called on the local bar to take action and stub out the problem.

They have now managed to successfully secure a dedicated bin outside of the premises on the promenade which they hope will bring the issue to a halt.

Following positive meetings with the local branch managers, the business agreed to fund the purchase.

Community Council Chair Anne Carson said: "The cigarette bin being installed on the promenade opposite The Paddle Steamer is great news.

"We want to say a big thank you to the pub managers at Wetherspoons for purchasing and installing this at the behest of LCC's environment group.

"We would also like to say thank you to Helen Miller from the council's Streetscene team who has agreed to add the new bin to their servicing schedule."

It is hoped that the new facility will reduce the volume of butts which ends up on the prom.

Community Councillor Patricia Perman added: "Not only does it look awful when cigarette ends are dropped, but it is terrible for the environment.

"When we carried out the beach clean around 280 cigarette butts were picked up by the children.

"As Wetherspoons don't have a smokers area what was happening was smokers would go out on to the prom and lean over the wall.

"Then they would either stamp out the rubbish at their feet or throw them over on to the beach, which was frankly unacceptable."

Council bosses have also installed a CCTV camera close to the slipway as they try to crackdown on littering in the area.