Details of the Helensburgh Sea front Development Project (HSDP) – the brainchild of Ian MacQuire – were presented to Helensburgh and Lomond councillors on Tuesday at the monthly area committee meeting.

Although at an early stage, it is estimated the project – which would transform the look of the seafront – will cost in the region of £5-7 million.

Architects drawings commissioned by Helensburgh Sea front Development Project (HSDP) outline the proposals, which include installing between two and four floating wave breakers, sand on the beach from the pier to beyond the Henry Bell monument, repairing the wooden section of the pier, dredging the pier head to allow the Waverly to berth, and, the creation of two ‘calm areas’ for watersports.

The project is expected to receieve full charitable status in the next few weeks, after which members will begin applying for funding from organisations including the Heritage Lottery Fund, Coastal Communities Fund, Climate Challenge Fund, Marine Stewardship Fund, Active Places Funding, and People’s Postcode Trust Dream Fund 2015.

A feasibility study will have to be carried out at a cost of £18,000, which will provide marine engineers and structural engineers assessments; include a sedimentation model to demonstrate that the tidal actions wouldn’t displace any introduced sand offshore; an appropriate tidal action model to confirm the impact any wavebreaker would have; and a full engineering assessment of the pierhead.

Mr MacQuire told the Advertiser: “We have been given our own funding officer from Argyll and Bute Council social enterprise team, and have set up a bank account which we will put any fundraising and donations we get.

“So far we have £880 in pledges from locals and businesses in the town to sponsor a ton of sand for the beach.

“We have many other funding schemes such as bag packs, some sort of musical fundraiser in the square, t-shirts / hoodies, Friends of Helensburgh Seafront scheme, a sponsored swim from Craigendoran Pier to Helensburgh Pier, and much more.

“It is still early days but we are getting there, we are hopeful the council will be able to support the plans we have.” Following the area committee meeting on Tuesday, Councillor Vivien Dance, policy lead for tourism, told the Advertiser the councillors support the project.

She said: “Ian’s presentation went very well, the charity he is in the process of forming has a number of very interesting and ambitious plans for the seafront area which would involve securing £5million of funding from external bodies.

“Plans such as these with Ian’s projected level of investment in Helensburgh would be warmly welcomed by the community and I am sure, along with all the other projects that are coming to fruition in the town, would be a great attraction to visitors.

“We look forward to receiving further updates from the trust as they progress their plans and secure funding.” Councillor Gary Mulvaney, chair of the area committee added: “It was good to receive a presentation from Ian on his ambitious plans for breakwaters on the seafront. Clearly, things are at an early stage but I think we all look forward to hearing more about the feasability, business case, fundraising plans and long term sustainability of such a project.” Darrel Hendrie, chairman of Helensburgh Community Council, said he wanted to hear more from HSDP – with a presentation to the group scheduled to take place over the coming months – before commenting on the proposals publicly. There will be several HSDP presentations including to the community on Saturday, September 20 at 11am in The Tower on Sinclair Street, and to the Helensburgh and District Civic Society on October 15, and discussions have taken place to do a presentation to both high schools.