IT'S hoped a new £220,000 car park will mean the end of the road for traffic congestion at a bottleneck in Greenock's east end.

The Inverclyde Council facility at Lady Octavia Sports Centre will open next week, with the number of bays in the area more than doubling from 40 to 82.

The idea is that the additional spaces will prevent drivers from leaving their vehicles on nearby Bridgend Road and Castle Road, allowing traffic to flow more freely and freeing up room for residents to park outside their homes.

Ward councillor Michael McCormick and fellow elected member Robert Moran challenged council officers to come up with a plan to alleviate the long-running congestion and parking problems in the area two years ago.

Officials came up with the idea of extending the existing makeshift sports centre car park and creating a new entrance to take vehicles away from surrounding streets.

Cllr McCormick, who is also convener of environment and regeneration, said: "This has been in the pipeline for some time and I'm delighted to see it eventually happen.

"The people in Bridgend Road and Castle Road have shown a lot of patience.

"The traffic congestion has increased in the last few years as the sports centre has become more popular, and due to the success of East End United with more kids now involved with the club.

"Hopefully the work that's been done will alleviate congestion that people have been experiencing."

The council's roads services manager, Steven Walker, and team leader, Gordon Leitch, pictured, played a key role in getting the project off the ground along with colleague Gary Sweeney, who drew up the designs and was in charge of construction.

Mr McCormick said: "East End United could have 80 kids here and, as you can imagine with parents dropping them off and picking them up, it can get really busy.

"Inverclyde Leisure also have plans to create a budget gym in the sports centre and when that comes to fruition that would have added to the problems so in many ways we're trying to future-proof as well."