A village councillor is demanding a permanent solution to a persistent flooding issue after excrement and sanitary towels were discovered lying near a popular Italian restaurant.

Councillor James MacLaren has requested answers from Scottish Water and SEPA over the continued overflow from manhole covers in Main Street, Bridge of Weir.

The Tory councillor has highlighted one manhole of particular concern near to Amaretto restaurant.

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Amaretto’s owner, Carlo Di Ciacca, said flooding has been an issue for around a decade and he did put it to the area’s MSP Derek Mackay back in 2010.

Scottish Water has cleaned the area and unblocked the manhole, but Cllr MacLaren said a more long-term solution to the problem is “overdue”.

Cllr MacLaren, who represents Bridge of Weir, Bishopton and Langbank, said: “It is completely unacceptable this manhole cover continues to flood on a regular basis, especially right next to a prominent restaurant.

“The fact items including excrement, wipes and sanitary towels are allowed to just lie on the Main Street is a major health hazard and it is long overdue for the authorities find a permanent solution to this.

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“It isn’t good enough to say it has been unblocked or diluted to safe levels, there needs to be a full investigation into how these problems keep occurring and why the flooding happens.

“I hope Scottish Water and SEPA give this matter more urgent attention than they have been doing so and find a solution that will give residents peace of mind once and for all.”

Mr Di Ciacca added: “I’m amazed this is only being discussed now as this has been going on for a decade.

“I emailed Derek Mackay about it back in 2010.

“Everyone who lives in the village or walks through it is well aware the flooding goes on.

“Of course I hope it gets fixed as we do feel for the neighbours. It happens three or four times a year and a solution is long overdue.

“It should’ve been sorted years ago.”

Bosses at Scottish Water defended their position, highlighting that there has been a vast amount of flooding across the country recently following Storm Ciara.

The company said it has identified Main Street as an area for potential investment and staff are in the process of repairing manholes.

A spokesperson said: “During the most recent flooding there were about 50 flood warnings in place around Scotland, with many areas of the country experiencing extremely high rainfall during Storm Ciara.

“In many locations, the levels of rainfall overwhelmed the man-made drainage systems including the sewers, culverted watercourses and road drainage systems leading to surface water and sewer flooding in many parts of the country.

“During the most recent flooding, Scottish Water attended [Bridge of Weir] and carried out a clean-up, clearing debris and disinfecting the area, following sewer flooding from a manhole. We would like to apologise to residents who were affected by this flooding.

“Scottish Water has identified Main Street for development or potential investment, which would help reduce the risk of sewer flooding and has undertaken survey work as part of this. In addition, we are in the process of repairing 15 manholes on this stretch of the waste water network.”

A spokesperson for SEPA said: “SEPA received complaints regarding overflowing sewer manholes.

“Scottish Water was notified on each occasion and SEPA is aware action was taken. A follow-up site inspection by SEPA found there is no pollution of the watercourse and debris material had been cleared.”