Two drop in events designed to give the public the chance to discuss the draft masterplan documents for key Helensburgh sites have proven a huge success.

Nearly 800 people attended the two sessions at the town’s Victoria Hall last week, where members of the council’s development policy team and Gareth Hoskins Architects were on hand to provide detailed information, clarify any issues and answer any questions regarding the pier head and former Hermitage Academy sites.

As well as the 773 people who signed in, more than 200 people have already completed the online consultation response forms and the council has received hundreds of paper copies of the response form which officers are currently collating and analysing.

In addition, some 400 face to face on-street surveys of people in the Helensburgh and Lomond area were carried out over four days last week. And about 20 members of the Hermitage Academy pupil council – who could not attend one of the open day sessions - received a presentation on the draft masterplans at their school, enabling them to also make informed choices about how best to respond to the consultation.

Argyll and Bute Council leader, Councillor Dick Walsh, said: “To have had well over 1,000 people involved in some way so far is extremely rewarding, and shows the levels of interest in this issue in the local area.

“However, people should be aware that the masterplans consultation is still ongoing, and it is not too late for people to register their points of view through the online survey on the council’s website.”

A dedicated consultation page is on the council’s website at www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/helmasterplans, where visitors will find copies of the draft masterplans along with the consultation response form. The deadline for responding is 5pm this Wednesday (January 18).

“The drop in events were extremely well received, and enabled people to gain a full understanding on the issues which have informed the content of the masterplans that are currently been consulted on before completing the survey,” Councillor Walsh said.

“Council officers and representatives from Gareth Hoskins Architects were present  to show people around the exhibition, which included a model of the pier head.

“During the day, presentations were also made to specific groups of people to ensure responses were received from different sections of the community.

“There was a great deal of interest, with the room packed with people from start to finish on both days.  All the views expressed will be reported back to the council for their consideration prior to any decision being made, and I very much look forward to the final drafts being drawn up.”