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Kilmarnock's iconic clock is to be removed with 'immediate effect'.

The famous town centre landmark at the train station is to be ripped up after councillors narrowly voted to get rid of it.

Branded a 'blight', the clock at the summit of John Finnie Street has been dogged by issues with one councillor claiming money has been squandered on the structure.

Independent councillor Graham Boyd lead the charge to have the clock removed after highlighting that £313,000 was spent on giving the station installation a facelift in 2009.

A projected maintenance budget of £15,000 a year was reduced to £7,500 for the clock but that was axed in 2016 as part of budget cuts.

Cllr Boyd, a member for Kilmarnock East and Hurlford, highlighted that in the past nine years a further £108,000 has been spent on trying to fix the clock.

SNP members backed council leader Douglas Reid's amendment to accept the report recommendations and to revisit the matter in nine months but councillor Boyd's motion for immediate action won the support of Labour, Conservative, the Rubbish Party and independent members to be carried.

Councillor Reid was concerned that no cost was attached to the removal of the clock with the local authority leader saying the council would need "every penny" ahead of the budget next year. Nationalist colleague David Richardson warned that it was essentially like writing a blank cheque.

The council report into the matter also highlighted that the clock has been "troubled by various technical issues over the years, further complicated by access issues and the fact that only one company, based in England, can service the equipment."

The cost associated with the removal of the clock must fall under £72,000 - the developer contributions fee that was going to be allocated to the site. Otherwise, the matter will come before the council again.

Following the meeting, Councillor Boyd said on Facebook: "In my election leaflet I mentioned that £313,000 in 2009 had been spent on the station clock fronting John Finnie Street. This was through ‘The Leaders Initiative’ funding stream. I highlighted this as squandered money, for years it’s been broken, unmaintained and fronted with dead conifers.

"In the last 9 years a further £108,000 has been spent in many futile attempts to sort it. The problems arose in the first place as there were not sufficientbudgets allocated to maintain it.

"Today [Thursday] at full council I did something about it! The future of the clock was included in a series of papers on the regeneration of Kilmarnock Town Centre.

"The paper suggested exploring whether it could be sorted or not. Of course that would cost even more money just to have someone look at it. It’s quite clear it would be very expensive to sort if you look closely at it. Hands don’t work, no bulbs light and numerous light units are badly corroded. It’s also green with moss and there’s the invasive mares tail weed too.

"The paper also suggested further discussion on its future and a decision made 9 months from now whether to sort or remove and landscape.

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"Enough is enough! This is just further delaying of making decisions and procrastination. It’s a blight in a highly visible site and does not help tourism or inward investment if that’s one of your first views.

"I then proposed that ‘The clock be removed with immediate effect and the site landscaped.’

"A vote was taken, my motion was passed 16 v 15 with the support of the Labour Group, Conservative Group, Rubbish Party and one other Independent.

"The clock will now be removed and the site landscaped."

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