PROGRESS on completing a dedicated cycling route between Helensburgh and Dumbarton must be made “as a matter of urgency”, according to local councillors.

The route – which has been on Argyll and Bute Council's wish-list for more than a decade, and on which work started four years ago – is still far from complete, despite a commitment to pursue a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to acquire the land needed for the rest.

And the authority's Helensburgh and Lomond councillors agreed this week to register their concern at the lack of progress on the route to date.

So far only two sections of the route – from Waitrose in Helensburgh towards Cardross, and a short stretch within Cardross itself – have been completed.

As reported in the Advertiser last week, the local authority hopes to start work on the next phase of the path – linking Cardross railway station to the A814 on the edge of the village, beyond the entrance to Geilston Farm – during 2017-18.

A report prepared for the council's Helensburgh and Lomond area committee, which met on Tuesday, said negotiatons to buy the land required for future phases of the path had “been ongoing since 2012 with mixed success”.

Cllr David Kinniburgh, one of the three Helensburgh and Lomond South councillors whose ward takes in the majority of the route, told the area committee on Tuesday: “I'm really quite concerned with this report. This has been ongoing for far too long. Has any contact been made with the land owners or their agents directly?

“We're now talking about stages going on until 2021. I think all our focus should be on purchasing the land.

“We decided in 2015 to go down the route of a CPO. We're two years on and we haven't get anywhere with that. A 2021 date is unacceptable.”

Colin Young, the council's strategic transportation delivery officer, told Tuesday's meeting that contact had been made with the land owners concerned within the last month, and said that the completion date given was a “worst case scenario”.

The other two Helensburgh and Lomond South councillors, Ellen Morton and Richard Trail, echoed Cllr Kinniburgh's concerns, with Cllr Morton noting that Mr Youn “now has a clear understanding of the frustrations” felt by local members.

And Helensburgh Central councillor Gary Mulvaney added: “It's doubly frustrating that we decided in 2015 to go down the CPO route and it hasn't made a blind bit of difference to anything.

“I know we've had difficulties between land owners and agents but we need clarity on the position. Either we fire the gun or we put the gun away because nobody's taking any notice of it.”

A public drop-in consultation on proposals for the cycle path's route through Cardross took place at the village's Geilston Hall on Monday night - for more see the next print edition of the Advertiser, on sale from Thursday, June 22.