CALLS have been made for a housing association to 'clean up its act' and get rid of eyesore weeds and overgrown shrubs blighting a local estate.

Inverclyde MSP Stuart McMillan has slammed River Clyde Homes for a lack of ground maintenance in the Hope Street and Antigua Street area of Greenock.

He says that despite complaining to RCH, they have failed to get on top of the problem - and has accused bosses of neglecting the task for some time.

Mr McMillan said: "Having reported these issues at the beginning of September, I hoped that this area would have been sorted long ago.

"I was told that RCH workers were four weeks behind in their ground maintenance and that they would be moving in to Greenock at the beginning of the last week in September.

"Three weeks on, the area has still not been touched.

“You can see from the pictures that the issue here is not just that the ground maintenance programme is behind schedule – this area has clearly not been touched in quite some time.

“I am not in the business of issuing complaints about local organisations just on a whim.

"But in receiving regular feedback from constituents and seeing RCH’s work, or lack of it, first-hand, it’s time that RCH starts providing the service that their tenants are paying for.

“Until this work is completed, I will keep up the pressure on RCH."

Mr McMillan says he wants to know if tenants in other areas of the district have been experiencing similar problems.

He said: "If any of my constituents have similar issues in their area, please feel free to contact my office on 720930."

John Williams, senior contract manager at Home Fix Scotland, which carries out grounds works for River Clyde Homes, said: “Unfortunately we have been approximately one month behind on our grounds maintenance schedule all season, particularly with grass cutting.

"We are beginning our winter works and these include weed spraying, moss removal and the cutting back of hedges and bushes.

"To allow us to get on top of this work we are working through the next two weekends which should put us a head on our winter programme.

"We apologise for the delays we’ve experienced this year and anticipate that work will begin at the Hope Street and Antigua areas at the end of this week.”