A GREENOCK councillor is pushing hard for a notorious fly-tipping hotspot in the town's east end to be cleared up once and for all.

Pam Armstrong has been helping to organise the clean-up of rubbish dumped outside private flats which sit at the Lawrence Street end of Morton Terrace in Greenock.

The Tele told in May last year how fed up residents had hit out over the piles of furniture, food waste and broken electronics left outside the property, which they said had been building up for months.

The SNP politician says she has now worked alongside letting agents and the property's owner to have the bulk of rubbish uplifted.

She hopes this will pave the way for the properties to be renovated and put on the market.

Councillor Armstrong told the Telegraph that work still had to be done to clear the area completely, but the efforts to address the issue were a big step in the right direction.

She said: "Near neighbours have been very concerned about the rubbish that's outside this property for quite a long time.

"They contacted me and it just so happened that things aligned and we were able to get it cleared up.

"People were just dumping all sorts of rubbish here.

"The owners, the neighbours and the letting agents wanted it cleared up and we were able to do that.

"However a few weeks ago I noticed that there was another load of rubbish here again.

"I went to the letting agents and they were fantastic, they explained it wasn't fly-tipping and that they were actually renovating the flats.

"Everybody wants these flats renovated, brought up to a good standard and then let.

"I asked them to take the stuff away before things started again and it has been cleared up now.

"This place is better than it was and hopefully it can be better still.

"When the work gets done and everyone co-operates then we can get to a stage where the properties can be rented out. "

While the site is not completely cleared yet, councillor Armstrong hopes that the recent efforts are the first steps towards a long-term solution.

The elected member says that cases like the one at Morton Terrace show how important it is to report fly-tipping and be aware if dumping.

She added: "Fly-tipping is a scourge.

"It upsets everybody, it's unsightly, it's unhygienic and at its worst it's downright dangerous.

"But it's also a difficult problem to sort out - the council are struggling for money and can't afford to go round clearing up every bit of rubbish.

"Rubbish attracts rubbish and I was worried that if someone saw that something had already been dumped there, they would think they could add to it.

"I know that getting rid of rubbish is an expensive business, but people need to be careful when they're paying to have waste removed.

"If someone is getting a quote that's way below the usual price, I would urge them to think very seriously about where that stuff is going.

"There's the dumb dumpers initiative nationally which has a phone number people can call if they see fly-tipping and I would encourage people to do that.

"If we all work together and report things we can actually do something about it, like what's happened here."

*he Dumb Dumpers hotline is 0300 777 2292.