A resident who lives nearby contacted the Advertiser to say workmen were in on the site at Ardencaple – between Rhu and Helensburgh on the green belt area.

The site is designated for housing in the local development plan, but there is currently no planning consent for the site. The council has said it will investigate the matter.

In the adopted local plan, 16 houses can be built on the former garden centre site, with an additional 44 on the area of green belt between Helensburgh and Rhu.

Although the site is part of plans for housing, planning permission still needs to be obtained by developers before they can work on the site.

Andrew Gemmell, who lives next to the site, said: “It’s the old Dobbies site, nothing has happened and it’s been lying derelict for years.

“Last Tuesday someone came in with a JCB, and on Wednesday they moved into the north side and started to dig trenches.

“There were plans for houses on it, I think it went from 18 to something like 60 are meant to be getting built.It’s been an eyesore for years.” Mr Gemmell said the trees had been knocked over, and the site was ‘really muddy’ after the workmen had been in. He said if the work was going ahead with any development of houses, he should have been notified as a neighbour.

A spokesman for SKF, the contractor who was spotted on the site by Mr Gemmelll, said: “We were just asked to take soil samples.” The Largs-based firm were hired by Mason Evans to carry out the investigation.

Niall Lawless, a director at Mason Evans, told the Advertiser: “It was a site investigation, we were carrying it out for a future developer. There is always mess to some degree when carrying this out. It’s nothing that is untoward.” He said it was ‘standard practise’ to use heavy machinery to do the work.

Mr Gemmell added: “There’s ways of non-destructive site investigation.

“That’s an excuse to do it quickly.” A spokeswoman for Argyll and Bute Council said: “This activity has been brought to our attention and we are investigating. It is designated in the local development plan for housing development but there is no planning consent for housing on the site.”