THIS week in 2010, there was strong criticism aimed at the handling of the new Largs Traffic Management Scheme which was branded as unprofessional while others slated its 'cut-price' outcome.

Community council chairman Ian Murdoch bemoaned the 'time, effort and money' that had gone into achieving an approved scheme, only for it to undergo several changes and for comparatively little investment to have actually taken place.

He claimed that the final agreed scheme had been 'thrown out of the window' and that the pavements and kerbs were not being resurfaced.

Local SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson welcomed the decisive vote in the Scottish Parliament against building a coal-fired power station at Hunterston.

Holyrood voted 66 to 26 against the proposed development.

A smouldering coal tip at Clydeport left a local cyclist feeling as if he was ‘almost choking’ when riding through the fumes on a nearby cycle path.

Mr Ron Cooper, who ran a cycle group in the village, told Fairlie Community Council about the incident.

There had been repeated fires at the Hunterston coal yard in recent months, with smouldering and smoke emanating from the Clydeport site.

He added: “I don’t now how the people at Fencebay can put up with it. I was nearly choking with the fumes. I was drawing in deep breaths - it upset me a bit.”

Clydeport thanked the fire brigade for their speedy actions in responding to the incident which involved an industrial plant belonging to a tenant company, while North Ayrshire Environmental Health stated that coal stocks had spontaneously combusted but the company were actively working to control the burning - and stated: “This is not uncommon and there is no evidence of risk to public health."

A new children’s guide to the magical mysteries of Millport was released by grandfather and former local bookmaker John Burtt.

The 69 year old islander was inspired to write the book for youngsters with illustrations after taking his grandchildren on visits to the wild and wonderful places that the Isle of Cumbrae has to offer.

The book is simply entitled 'Conor and Papa John' and took youngsters on a magical mystery tour of the island with chapters about The Secret Tunnel, The Buried Cannon, The Crocodile Rock, Smugglers’ Cave and The Haunted Pier, complete with a quiz.

John said: “The story is all about the adventures of my grandson Conor and myself and we investigate some well known and lesser known places on the island. I have to admit that I didn’t even know about some of the places such as the tunnel at Fintry - not an awful lot of people know about that."

Largs Fire Brigade had an open day car wash at their Brisbane Road HQ in Largs to raise funds for retired and injured retained firefighters.

The 53rd Largs Scouts were pictured on their sponsored walk from the RNLI in Largs to Inverkip via Brisbane Glen/ Loch Thom/Cornalees. They started at 10am and finished at 3.30pm covering a fantastic distance of 21 km.

The sponsored walk was in aid of assisting with the summer camp cost to Lochgoilhead Scout Centre.

Largs faced a goalkeeping crisis as top stopper Stephen Connick suffered a fractured cheekbone in Thistle's 1-1 draw with Irvine Meadow in the Scottish Cup quarter final. Thistle were busy chasing up a second reserve keeper for the big replay against Irvine Meadow at Barrfields as reserve stopper Neil Greenwood was due to become a father. Martin Dow equalised for Largs to secure the replay.

There were winning smiles from Largs Boys Brigade who were winners of the battalion competitions for general knowledge and painting.