Scottish Water's £2.8m flooding management project in Greenock has been delayed due to tunnelling problems.

The team intended to use a guided tunnelling machine to tunnel under the roadway in and round the Oakmall Shopping Centre and across the roundabout where the existing sewer is located.

Due to the hard, rocky ground conditions they have been forced to dig the 16m long tunnel by hand, a far lengthier process.

The four-way traffic light system on the A78 at High Street roundabout, which is currently in operation to enable engineers to connect new infrastructure to an existing sewer, will now be in place until 12 October.

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Ruaridh MacGregor, Scottish Water's corporate affairs manager, said: "Scottish Water is very sorry that we have not been able to lift the road restrictions when we had previously stated and that this complication has increased the project timescales as a result.

"We understand that people will be disappointed with this. However, I would emphasise that this had not been expected and is due to circumstances beyond our control.

"We'd like to thank the local community and all affected road users for their continued patience and understanding. We'd also like to remind the public that local traders and companies remain open for business as usual while the work continues."

(CM/MH)