A FURIOUS councillor has labelled Skelmorlie the “forgotten town of North Ayrshire” as he calls for more investment in roads and infrastructure in the area.

Major resurfacing work is taking place this month on Station Road, the main route in and out of the village from the A78 trunk road.

However, ward councillor Ian Murdoch believes the upgrade is long overdue, and has welcomed the news it will be resurfaced.

The North Coast independent representative said: “I am delighted that Station Road is getting done, as it is one of only three main routes into the village.

“The majority of people in Skelmorlie head north into Inverclyde and Greenock, so it gets used by hundreds of cars every day.

“The road has been plagued with constant potholes that just kept opening up, so a full resurfacing is long overdue.”

Councillor Murdoch also says Skelmorlie will soon benefit from more pothole patching, after a crunch meeting with council officials.

He explained: “I held an on-site meeting with the head of roads and commercial services, and we went round all the bad areas and outlined plans for patching.

“A lot of damage to the roads in Skelmorlie is caused by running water, which freezes and cracks the surface, so we need to look into the drainage too.

“I highlighted key roads, including Eglinton Terrace and The Crescent, and also asked for Skelmorlie Castle Road and Long Hill to be considered for resurfacing in next year’s budget.”

Councillor Murdoch believes investment in Skelmorlie has been lacking for many years, and has called for more attention to be paid to the “forgotten town of North Ayrshire”.

He said: “I’m not happy with the fact that Skelmorlie pays a lot of council tax and the services they get in return are not very good.

“They do get a subsidised community centre, but we should really be sorting out the roads, as the vast majority are a disgrace.

“I have described it as the forgotten town of North Ayrshire in the past, and hopefully these works can be the start of some major investment there.”

A spokesperson for North Ayrshire Council said: “In common with most local authorities, we have a road maintenance backlog.

“As such, our roads service has adopted an asset management approach to allocate available funds to locations that will offer the most beneficial return on the investment.

“This year’s resurfacing programme was approved by cabinet and we will be resurfacing a section of Station Road, Hillview and Seton Terrace in Skelmorlie as part of the approved programme of works.

“Additional routine repairs will be carried out to address localised surface defects and drainage problems over the coming months.

“All our roads and footways are assessed annually for consideration of inclusion in future resurfacing programmes and the roads in Skelmorlie will be assessed and considered as part of this process.”