Vandals daubed walls and the bridge in their latest attack and the river and its bank are strewn with litter.

One local man, who asked not to be named, said: "There is graffiti all over the Greggs the bakery building and the bridge, it's embarrassing.

"I was appalled by it. The side of Marks and Spencers has also been covered with scrawls for ages and nothing has been done about it .

"Why can't the council see this and fix it immediately? Everyone else notices it.

"I saw eight tourists loading their bags on to the West Highland Way van looking in dismay at the graffiti and litter in the river.

"They must have been thinking 'where are we?' because it looks so awful.

"The council needs to address this now, we have large expanses of white wall which are prime for painting.

"I suggest that they put fixed planters on these walls to deter the vandals from painting them because the plants would hide their handiwork.

"The village would also have all year round colour from the plants and flowers."

Gilbert McVean, who runs Travel-Lite which transports walkers bags for them along the route of the West Highland Way, has long been campaigning to improve the appearance of the start of the walk in Milngavie.

He said: "The start of the West Highland Way in Milngavie has been totally ignored by East Dunbartonshire Council for over 10 years.

"I have attended 20 to 30 meetings about it with the council and they say they are going to do this and that but nothing is ever done.

"Visitors are appalled by the graffiti and litter, it's the biggest disappointment.

"It looks utterly appalling and desperately needs to be cleaned up and looked after.

"Many local businesses benefit from the visitors that the West Highland Way encourages to the area.

"We need to smarten up the appearance of it, first impressions matter."
Alan Greenshields, general manager at Greggs of Scotland, said: "We are aware of the issue of graffiti on the walls of our Milngavie precinct shop and will be giving the council our full co-operation in resolving the issue.

"As a company, we take our role in the community very seriously and corporate social responsibility is high on our agenda. At the end of this month we are trialling an initiative with Keep Scotland Beautiful to combat littering problems at three shops across the region. If successful, we'd be looking to roll this out across other locations, including Milngavie."

A spokesperson for the council said: "We received a complaint about this graffiti on Friday and have issued an order for the work to be done. This graffiti will be cleaned off by the end of this week.

"We recognise the importance of the West Highland Way as a tourist attraction and as well as being litter-picked once a week, this site is swept regularly. British Waterways also has some responsibility in this area as they maintain the riverbank. By working together we aim to keep the whole area clean and tidy and attractive to visitors."

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