The County Grand Orange Lodge Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, and Argyll submitted notification to Argyll and Bute Council of the 3,500 strong procession, due to take place on June 28 – the first weekend of the school summer holidays.

The 28-day period of representation closed on Tuesday, April 22, and following ‘a substantial number of representations’ – the majority of which appear to be objections. The council will now defer the licence application to the Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee (PPSL) for consideration.

However, Alex McCraig, the event’s principal organiser, told the Advertiser he was not concerned about the committee meeting. He said: “We had objections in Dunoon as well but the march went ahead.” Mr McCraig reiterated that the Lodge will meet the Helensburgh public ‘face-to-face’ to speak about any fears, adding that the procession will go ahead because it does not breach health and safety or public disorder.

The march – expected to attract in excess of 6,000 people – sparked a backlash from the Helensburgh clergy and community members.

In response to the news, six ministers – the Reverends David Clark, George Vidits, David Speed, George Hunter, Stephen Brown, and David Cook – contacted the Advertiser to publicly voice their opposition to the proposals.

They said: “Freedom to gather and freedom to express opinion is, of course, an important and hard-won right in any democracy – but so too is the opportunity to say ‘no thanks, not here’.” Mr McCraig said he was ‘disappointed’ at the reaction of the local ministers. He added: “With 3,500 coming to the town to parade, how many people do you think they will get in their churches the following day? We even have a minister leading the parade.

“Our lodges are all parochial and most of us come from the sticks. People hear scare stories about guns and so on, but I have never owned a gun in my life – I like bird watching in my spare time.” Mr McCraig added that in the last 12 years no-one had been arrested and that members cleaned up after themselves.

Daren James, from Helensburgh, said local supporters started a Facebook page, Support the Helensburgh Orange Lodge, to show they are ‘proud’ to host the Boyne Celebrations.

He said: “Our page has only been live for 48 hours and has a remarkable 520 likes, this vastly outnumbers the page for the opponents to the parade.

“Our aim is to show in a positive manner that we are proud Helensburgh Sons of the Reformation Orange Lodge has been chosen to represent Argyll District this year.” The procession is scheduled to begin at 11am from Helensburgh’s East End Public Park, and will parade along East King Street, West King Street, and Sutherland Street, before turning down Sutherland Street and heading along West Clyde Street, East Clyde Street, and up Charlotte Street back to East King Street and into East End Park.

The procession will then leave East End Park at 2.45pm and parade along East King Street, down Sinclair Street, to the Pierhead car park.

A spokeswoman for Argyll and Bute Council said as a result of there being objections, the application will be considered by the Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee (PPSL) which will be held in public, with date and venue to be decided.