A bid to transform part of Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park into a nature reserve – which was to include commercial grouse shooting – has been scrapped.

The land management expert behind the elaborate scheme says it is “effectively dead” and asserts that local authorities should have “nothing to do” with sites like Muirshiel.

A report to park bosses last December states the project would (if approved) have been launched in partnership with land managers and outdoor experts at England’s agricultural Newton Rigg College in Penrith.

Its many features were to have included an attempt to introduce red squirrels, hen harriers and other species to what was planned to be a carefully-managed sustainable environment.

But last month Renfrewshire West SNP councillor Andy Doig attacked the scheme, claiming it was an attempt to take public facilities “back to the days of Downton Abbey”, and argued it would have ruined the amenity.

The land expert fronting the project claims Mr Doig's “misguided intervention” was responsible for the scheme's failure, because too much emphasis had been put on the grouse shooting element – which the councillor strongly opposed.

However while the arguments about the failed plan continue, Renfrewshire Council has stressed that while it studied the proposal it was never part of a partnership with the would-be developer.

Neither the grouse idea nor the wider scheme had ever got off the ground.

To have been fully taken on board it would also have needed approval from two other councils involved with Muirshiel.

Land expert Douglas Phillips said: “After three years of work, funded entirely by me, and totalling well in excess of £15,000, the councils were either unwilling or unable to produce even the simplest of standard 'off the shelf' wildlife and conservation management agreements.”

He added: “The project has demonstrated one thing, which is that the public ownership or control of land in a devolved Scotland is unworkable without the involvement of qualified and practical land management expertise.”

Mr Phillips states flatly: “The likes of Inverclyde and Renfrewshire Council should not own rural property such as Muirshiel and Hardridge.”

Attacking local authorities' record on park management he says: “The councils ably assisted by Scottish Natural Heritage and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) during the past 15 years, have managed to preside over local extinctions of almost all the moorland waders, black grouse, grey partridges, nesting populations of hen harriers, and mammals such as mountain hares and red squirrels.”

A council spokesperson said: “Renfrewshire Council along with our partner authorities in North Ayrshire and Inverclyde are committed to Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park and recognise that it is an important environmental, recreational and educational resource that is managed to the benefit of all of our communities and visitors.”