I WAS interested to hear that a new £200 million film studio complex has just been given the go-ahead near Straiton, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, even though there was a two-year campaign objecting to it being sited there.

And why should that be of interest to us? Well, a long time ago, Erskine was once considered for such a thing.

Land was identified opposite Erskine Sports Centre, in the fields close to the river, we had good infrastructure and were close to Glasgow Airport.

Well, that was before more and more houses were built and increased traffic turned roads into something more like one large car park.

Erskine was close to television companies in Glasgow and looked good on paper as a potential site for the complex.

Perhaps it’s a case of Erskine’s loss being Straiton’s gain.

These will be Scotland’s first purpose-built studios and will make a huge difference when it comes to attracting movie companies to this country, as it will help them finish the whole project in one place.

It is disappointing to think our area may have been in the running for this years ago, if only those in power had really believed in it and pressed harder to make it happen.

This is not the first time we have been considered for projects here that have never come to fruition.

When the houses started going up in Erskine more than 40 years ago, the first residents were told they would have a super-duper shopping centre.

What have we ended up with? A small area with a few shops and a supermarket that is half the size we were promised, a new high school that still doesn’t have the swimming pool we were told would be built and several doctor’s surgeries instead of one large health centre that would have most of the services we need.

And that’s not taking into account the 2,500 new houses in Bishopton, the plans for which were opposed by the locals.