FED-UP Linwood families have dubbed their town the “dirtiest depressing place on earth” and called for immediate action.

They are sick and tired of seeing manky crumbling roads, rampant vandalism and graffiti over many streets and the shopping centre which is an eyesore.

Although there are parts of the town which echo the good old days and still look excellent there are areas suffering from years of neglect bringing a once proud community to its knees.

Now Renfrewshire Council and parents of unruly children have been challenged to get their act together.

One woman who has lived in Linwood all her life hit out: “It is time the Council did something about the state of our town — it’s a shambles with broken pavements, graffiti, messy gardens and litter everywhere.

“Linwood used to be clean and tidy and God help you if you neglected your garden, but now it must be the dirtiest place on earth and it is especially bad in the Clippens area.”

She added: “I passed through Ferguslie Park recently and noticed it was like a palace compared to Linwood. And talking about palaces, maybe we should invite royalty to the town and then it might get the facelift it so badly needs. I am quite happy living here but this is the worst I have ever seen it.”

Councillor Anne Hall had some sympathy with locals and admitted some parts of the town need to improve.

She told the Paisley Daily Express: “I can’t disagree that parts are a mess but it is a bit unfair to say that it applies to the whole of Linwood.

“The graffiti issues will be cleaned up but a lot of problems are created by parents who are not controlling their children and allowing things like this to happen.”

Ms Hall also said that improving pavements in the town was part of the council’s current planned repair programme but that some of the broken slabs outside shops were the responsibility of individual shopkeepers.

She added that the issue of “messy gardens” was complicated by the fact that many houses in the area are owned by private landlords.

But she challenged Linstone Housing association to do more to ensure that people who buy houses from them take better care of their gardens.

She said: “I think it is reasonable to expect the factor to have some responsibility for making people look after their property.”

Linwood Community Council backed calls to clean up the Clippens area of the town and said they had spoken to Linstone Housing Association and Renfrewshire Council about the broken pavements.

A spokesman added: “We have some sympathy with residents and agree that the place should be kept up to a good standard. There is quite a lot of vandalism and graffiti there but I have never been fully in agreement that it is the parents to blame for the actions of their children. It is usually peers goading them on that’s the problem.”