A CALL has been made for speed bumps to finally stop the problem of anti-social drivers tearing along Greenock's Esplanade.

A residents' group, led by ward councillor Elizabeth Robertson, has come up with a series of ideas to tackle a range of long-standing problems, particularly motorists speeding up and down the mile-long stretch.

Locals have taken matters into their own hands after being told by police and council officials that there is 'no evidence' of wrongdoing and not enough people reporting issues to justify deploying additional resources in the area.

The residents say they are willing to look into covering the costs if statutory agencies will not stump up.

Councillor Robertson said: "People have spoken about speeding, plus litter and, double parking happening on the Esplanade for a long time.

"After the election last year, these issues were brought up again and myself and the other ward councillors were asked if we could do something about it.

"A public meeting was held at the boat club to which we invited the roads department, community wardens, community safety officers from the council and Police Scotland.

"They all said there's no evidence and not a vast number of people reporting things, so they can't prioritise resources because of that.

"But there were 70 or more residents who came along that night and as a ward councillor I can't ignore that.

"So we switched things around and decided that if the council and police can't prioritise resources, as a community what can we do ourselves without using anyone else's resources and we came up with some viable options."

A task group was formed with members including Councillor Robertson, Esplanade resident and local businessman Chris Jewell, and Ruth Callaghan and Eleanor Bristow, on behalf of Cardwell Bay and Greenock West Community Council.

More than 150 leaflets were issued to households seeking views on a variety of proposals, including the introduction of speed bumps and increasing the height of the current raised sections along the road.

Mr Jewell, who has lived in the area for 14 years, said: "The main problem is it's a race track.

"With the arrangements at the Waterfront along Customhouse Way, you just know you can't speed on that road because you would ruin your car and there's not enough of a gap between them to get going speed-wise.

"The Esplanade is quite a wide road and something like that would be expensive but what we have said to officials is to look at this idea without thinking of money and see if it can be done and, if so, then we will look at ways to get funding.

"They might be ugly and quite clumpy but speed bumps would appear to be the most effective solution."

Residents are being encouraged to have their say about the idea and report any other issues affecting the area by emailing inverclyderesidents000@gmail.com