North Ayrshire Council have been blamed for a months-long delays to an Eglinton Park 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 MSP Katy Clark for help.

Sean, from Stevenston, told the Times: “I feel its worth to publicise the 3 months delays to the process to simply just get my idea brought to a panel meeting.

"Extenuating delays and incompetence from NAC employees have impacted the process and there was no urgency from any one until the MSP got involved - this highlights they have only done something now as there is a risk to public image due to the MSP.

“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 they would be driving positive environmental changes but this is not the case.

"With COP 26 on the doorstop of Scotland there should have been more knowledgeable information readily available if anyone wishes to pursue this line of enquiry.

“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 not in the protection of the ground.

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

Mr Taylor added: “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. Earlier this year, we launched our tree planting strategy, North Ayrshire’s 2030 Woodland.

“This sets out our ambition to introduce 108,000 new trees by the end of the decade as part of our response to the climate emergency.

The spokesperson added: “We are absolutely committed to delivering on this target and there is currently a raft of activity in the pipeline.”

“Work is already underway on a number of tree planting projects in partnership with F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Three Towns Growers and we are in talks with several other groups across North Ayrshire.

“Plans are progressing to plant a substantial number of new trees at some of our large regeneration projects including Lochshore in Kilbirnie later this growing season.

“We are finalising plans to launch a tree planting fund that would allow local groups, schools and businesses to apply for funding towards their own tree planting projects and contribute towards the North Ayrshire target.”

“The fund will be launched alongside an interactive webpage that will allow individuals to record their tree planting efforts at home as well as make suggestions on where they think tree planting would be beneficial in the local area.

“We welcome any new suggestions from our communities and partners.”