A STEVENSTON man has blamed North Ayrshire Council for months-long delays to a tree-planting request.

Sean Taylor, 28, originally contacted the council back in September to establish planting locations for new trees within Eglinton Park and the wider area.

However, delayed responses and alleged “red tape” answers led Sean to get in touch with local MSP Katy Clark for help.

Sean told the Herald: "From day one I sent a proposal including types of trees, where they had come from and proposed planting location and also an openness to plant in other areas within Eglinton park and the wider NAC area.

“I would have assumed with carbon net zero the council would be driving positive environmental changes but this proves it not the case.

“Due to North Ayrshire Council’s negligence - there is a risk of not even getting a site and not being able to plant until after winter due to environmental conditions - this runs risk on the saplings dying out over the winter.

“The sapling offer to the council was approximately 100 saplings which is a considerable grove and ecosystem to any planting area in years to come.

“Why I am doing this? To provide carbon reduction and create future ecosystems which must be protected from destruction.

"This needs to be aligned with the NAC’s agenda and they should be pushing tree planting very heavily on the area.”

A spokesperson for North Ayrshire Council said: “We are currently progressing a wide range of tree planting projects with various community groups.

“We can confirm that we are in discussion with Mr Taylor on an exciting tree planting proposal for North Ayrshire and have apologised for any frustration he has experienced in trying to contact us to discuss his proposal.

“Our tree planting strategy sets out our ambition to introduce 108,000 new trees by the end of the decade.”