As reported in the Advertiser in July, Councillor Ellen Morton criticised Scottish Water’s handling of the seafront pipeline issue, which has now burst 33 times in the past year.

The Lomond South councillor has been in contact with Scottish Water for a number of months regarding the problem with the pipe, which runs from Helensburgh’s East Clyde Street along past Colgrain towards Cardross, but says ‘not enough action’ is being taken by the company.

Colgrain Nursery, which sells landscaping and building products, is situated 400 yards from the leak and a spokesman for the company said the sewage leak is turning people away from using the beach.

“Scottish Water are aware the pipe is not fit for purpose,” he said.

“They are supposed to come down and check it every week but they have not been for three weeks. The pipe started to seep again a few days ago again and the material leaking over the beach and into the water. People don’t walk down here any more.

“When Scottish Water does come and turn off the pipe it’s not like they clean the beach, so it’s always a mess.” Speaking at Tuesday’s Helensburgh and Lomond Area Committee meeting, after a visit to the site, councillor Morton again highlighted the issue.

She said “Scottish Water has made promises about site inspections, but still the problem continues. The raw sewage is going out and along to Helensburgh so it affects the whole area. We have written to Scottish Water twice, so we now do not know what to do.

“We have been told it is the 33rd time this has happened in the last year – it is unacceptable. The issue has not been resolved, it is in fact worse.” Councillor Gary Mulvaney, chairman of Helensburgh and Lomond area committee, said the best way to tackle the issue would be to adopt a ‘twin track’ approach.

The director of development and infrastructure Pippa Milne will write to SEPA, Scottish Water and the Scottish Government before the end of the week. And councillors will also look at contacting the council’s environmental health as the issue is a public health issue.

David Kinniburgh, ward councillor for Lomond South, added: “It is unacceptable that this is happening so much. Scottish Water is meant to walk the area weekly to have a look at it.

“This is another burst, taking the total number to 33 this year. There is raw sewage spilling onto the beach and naturally this means there are sea gulls everywhere.” A spokeswoman for Scottish Water said it is committed to providing ‘a long term solution to bursts’ occurring along the pipeline.

She added: “We currently have contingency measures in place to deal with any bursts quickly and with as little disruption as possible and are looking at providing a long term, resilient solution as a priority. There is currently a contractor out on site carrying out a repair on the pipe and this will be repaired as soon as possible.

“I’m afraid I am unable to confirm the number of times we have been on site to carry out repairs on the pipe this year before your deadline, however, I do know that we regularly (weekly, depending on the tide) check and monitor the pipe at the site where it intermittently discharges and will continue to do so until we are in a position to put a more long term solution in place.”